The series begins with his early years, when he is driven by the desire to prove himself to his father. He is born into aristocracy in the grand family home of Blenheim Palace. From a young age he is acutely aware he has a lot to live up to. His father, Randolph Churchill, is an ambitious, controversial, highly successful politician and a strict disciplinarian who fails to give young Winston the affection he craves. Churchill never gets the chance to reconcile with his father and channels his sense of loss at his untimely death into a fierce determination to succeed at all costs.