This novel follows Mario and Amadora  Del Monaco from Ellis Island to the halls of Congress. Immigrant Mario Del Monaco has a life long desire to lift his people out of the poverty and disease of the New York slums, and becomes a Congressman so that he may  do so. His son Celestino becomes an opera star, and his son Beniamino  becomes a lawyer and a state prosecutor dedicated to ridding the Italian culture of gangsters. Third son Damiano has other ideas, however, and joins the Masseria crime family. Murder, treachery, and an endless quest by Ben to put his own brother away makes for a good story.