The first two hours of "TR: The Story of Theodore Roosevelt" examine Roosevelt's life before the presidency and his first term in the White House. An asthmatic child, Roosevelt was inspired by his father to overcome his weakness through rigorous exercise. He began a regimen of weights, boxing and outdoor sports that would help form his tenacious character. An intensely curious student, he joined every club at Harvard and impressed his fellow students with his vitality. After graduation and marriage to his beloved wife, Alice, he chose an unusual career for someone of his social rank: politics. In the New York state legislature, Roosevelt made a name for himself as an uncompromising reformer, a moral crusader. But when his wife and his mother died on the same day, he fled from his grief to the Dakota Badlands to become a rancher. On his return, he married again and started a second family.

Note: This is part 1 of a series of 2 parts.