This novel follows the growth of an Irish immigrant family from complete poverty to a position of wealth and political power. Joseph Armagh is ruled by his desire for money and overcome by ambition for his children. Along the way the family seems to have acquired a curse, so that despite Joseph's multimillionaire position and being one of the world's most powerful and feared men, the second generation and Armaghs reaps only misfortune and destruction. Joseph's determination to make his handsome eldest son Rory the first Catholic President of the United States ends with the latter's assassination. Certain parallels with that of the Kennedy saga in the portraits and events of Caldwell's saga, though set back in the 1850-1915, are apparent.