Belva Plain

In public, Oliver Grey is a devoted father, prominent public figure, humanitarian, and respected businessman. But in private, there's a much darker side to Oliver Grey; a side so dark that someone is driven to kill him...
Though the Greys appear to be an enviable upper class family, they are not without problems. Ian, the older son, is a womanizer and compulsive gambler; Clive, the younger son, is an odd man barely five feet tall with no life outside...

Though Iris Stern considers herself a modern woman, with a successful academic career and a happy marriage, she still holds steadfast to her old-fashioned sensibilities. But as the mother of three adult children, each with their own lives and burdens to bear, she often finds those sensibilities called into question when confronted with the choices her children have made.

Donald Wolfe, a young lawyer, arrives in New York City. Idealistic and ambitious, he marries Lillian out of infatuation and little else. Their marriage is shaky, but they have a child, Tina, and for her, Donald would give up everything. When his flawed marriage begins to fail, he must consider a step that would force him into flight and a life of hiding. Tina develops into an exceptional young woman, who at university falls in love with the lawyer...

Adam Arnring, son of an Irish immigrant and a Jewish peddler, heads West and lays the foundations of what will become one of the country's greatest retail companies. But along the way, love and war intervene, testing the ties that bind him to his brothers and to his trusting wife.