StarZ's eight-episode epic miniseries The Pillars of the Earth is based on the novel of the same name published by British writer Ken Follett in 1989. It tells the story of a stonemason family and the people around them in the political turmoil after the British king died out in 1120 when the ship of British Crown Prince William Adelin sank in the English Channel. The abbess Phillip of the monastery in Kingsbridge, a town in southern England, is determined to build a cathedral. For this lofty ideal, Phillip gathered craftsmen from all over the country and worked hard to prepare for the construction of the cathedral. During this period, the construction of the cathedral had many twists and turns. The protagonist Jack Jackson finally inherited his stepfather's ambition and took on the construction of the cathedral, building it into the most magnificent cathedral in Britain at that time.