'Sister Wives' Describe Bright Side of Polygamy

March 2, 2006 — -- In 2004, "Primetime's" John Quinones interviewed 17 women from Centennial Park, Ariz., who are in what they call "plural" marriages. All said their plural marriages work for them.

In their households, they live with one husband and anywhere from two to a dozen or more women they call "sister wives."

"And for us, it works 'cause we love it. We want it to work," said a woman named Susan.

The women are teachers, nurses, businesswomen. They are modern, savvy -- and if you ask them -- liberated.

Linda Earl lives in a multimillion-dollar, 30,000-square-foot mansion. She says there's plenty of room for more than one wife and many, many children.

"I'm pretty independent," Earl said. "I don't want to have to dote on a guy every night. I don't want to make sure that he has a meal every night. Let somebody else do it that likes it."

The kitchen is the size of a cafeteria. After all, there are dozens of mouths to feed in Earl's home -- from newborns to teenagers.

Thirteen-year-old Derek said he doesn't know how many brothers and sisters he has. "Nobody really knows, 'cause we don't count the numbers," he said.

They say they don't keep track of how many children live here because they are afraid the authorities might charge them with polygamy and break up their families. That's why there's only one "official" wife -- at least in the eyes of the law. The other marriages are only religious.

Another polygamous wife, Ann, said the sister wives get along well. "They're your sisters. You work together. You genuinely care about each other," she said.

But with so many women and only one man -- isn't there a lot of jealousy to deal with?