"A young country lawyer is driven by poverty to accept an assemblyman's salary from the hands of a "boss," and when his conscience forces him to vote against a bad bill he is thrown out of office. He becomes a reform county prosecutor but fails in re-election and accepts a position as lawyer for the power company which he had been actively fighting. He makes a rich, loveless marriage, becomes a U.S. senator, and in the end, looking back upon the seeting...

This story is an examination of capitalism and its impact on the country. The hero, Blacklock, is a stock-market speculator, a rough rascal who mixes love-making with his stock-jobbing. Not only are most of the big men of Wall Street after Blacklock's scalp for its own sake: one of them shares the speculator's love for Anita, and a double motive for seeking his ruin is provided.