James H. Brown

This ABC/PEOPLE television special highlights the impact of the soap opera. In today's shifting television landscape, "The Story of Soaps" traces how female creators migrated from radio to television to become the dominant force in daytime for more than three decades. Today, the legacy of the soap opera continues all over prime time and reality t.v. An extensive look is taken at this iconic, impactful genre.

Three women plot to catch wealthy husbands by throwing a party at a mansion to which they have temporary access. Obvious love stories follow involving an ex-ballplayer, a secretly wealthy mechanic and an ad exec.

Movie version of the original TV series follows the show's format of multiple stories blended together. The lead story involves the ship's bookkeeper who becomes the driver by accident for a trio of jewel thieves. A suspended police lieutenant trails the group onto the boat in disguise. The ship's captain, reclusive since his wife's death, is pushed by his daughter to return to the hotel in Bermuda where the couple originally honeymooned. The new cruise director sets her eyes on a passenger who is a TV star, but another ship employee is interested in her. Doc has to care for the pregnant wife of the ship's chief executive.