THE sons and daughters shine bright on the old Kentucky home of the Logan family, which brings some new sensitivities to the Old South.

The family seems to have weathered the Civil War in some style. The Logans still have their lush land, their thoroughbred horses and their great cheekbones.

Completing the Legacy is Papa Logan's (Brett Cullen) determination that they do good even as they do well.

The Logans are the (much better-looking) Cartwrights of Bluegrass country: always passionate and occasionally brawling, lead-by-example types who would no more take unfair advantage of a business competitor than they would of the blacks who work their sacred land.

They seem to find themselves at social, cultural, economic and every other kind of odds with the Winters family, headed by Lane Smith in full smarm.

Things will only get tetchier when Sean Logan (Grayson McCouch) jilts the snotty rich girl next door, Vivian Winters (Lisa Sheridan) because his heart is drawn to a forbidden beauty.

Then there's the wrench thrown into the family dynamics by the appearance of a New York street kid whom Ned had been led to believe was much younger when he offered his estate as a foster home.

Instead, Jeremy (Ron Melendez) is blond and brooding and built to incite distrust in Clay Logan (Jeremy Garrett), heart palpitations in Alice Logan (Lea Moreno) and instant worship in young Lexy Logan (Sarah Rayne).

Tonight, there's a Kentucky Derby to be won and a barn to be burned in retaliation.

Next week, by the time the music starts at the big debutante ball, the battle line will be clearly drawn with the mewling Winters on one side (with fair-weather allies) and the Logans firmly bonded on the right side, a la Dynasty with sane Carringtons.

Jeremy will learn to dance and eat soup without slurping. Sean will learn that love can be a bummer. Clay will learn that the family has room for one more. Alice will learn how to tame the hair that threatens to overwhelm her at times tonight. Lexy will have a new role model. And all this will please Ned.

And everything will move in slow motion whenever a horse is afoot.

Not that things move at the speed of most prime-time soaps even when the heat is cranked up.

Legacy intends to be savored.

It's the proverbial feast for the eyes, bigger than Anne of Green Gables, not as sweeping as Legends of the Fall, with horseflesh for young ladies and tastefully costumed cheesecake for all ages.

It's all sun-drenched and color-saturated, steeped in the mood of Loreena McKennitt's The Mummers' Dance, and suffused in family values that bring everything home in quite enduring fashion.

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