The city of New York at the start of the 20th century is the setting in which there begins the story of Tom, a man marked by the tragic events in his life, who as the story opens is hoping to get a job working on construction of the world’s tallest skyscraper, the Empire State Building.
At the age of ten years Tom had been taken into the Carter family. Thus began his life in the countryside, together with his new brother and sister, Jay and Beth, and another girl, Jennifer, set to become a key figure in the most intense moments of his existence.
Tom, Jay and Jennifer together form an inseparable group of friends, until the two brothers’ separately declared love for Jennifer complicates everything.
The terrible experience of the war in Europe, in which both young men take part, renders any reconciliation impossible, while jealousy, rejection, violence and an accidental death lead to Tom’s unjust imprisonment, set to last ten years.
In the meantime, life in the outside world continues and in 1929, when it seems that the world is collapsing as a result of the great crisis, Tom struggles to begin anew.
An action-packed story, set at a historical time of change, telling of a struggle for existence and of downfall, but yet at the same time of hope, strength and overcoming.