Somerset debuted as another pedestrian daytime drama, revolving around the powerful conglomerate Delaney Brands and its effect on the fictional community of Somerset, Illinois. Two years into its run, the serial was transformed into a crime-laden melodrama similar to CBS`s "The Edge of Night". For the next four years, newspaper publisher Julian Cannell took center stage as Somerset was besieged by arson, blackmail, extortion, and murder.