Harlan Crownover, scion of a great family of carriage makers, battles with his father to invest in a company run by Henry Ford, during Detroit's conversion to becoming the Motor City. Desperate for funds, Harlan turns to Big Jim Dolan, the Midwest's most powerful political boss, and Sal Borneo, a visionary Mafioso struggling to bring the commerce of vice into the new century. Allies at first, Harlan soon discovers how quickly friends can become mortal enemies. Only Edith Hampton Crownover, Harlan's troubled, aristocratic mother, will be in a position to shift the balance of power.