Clara Maria Tonelli is a woman of ideas, intelligence, and strength. Her father Agosto built a fortune in banking, lifting himself from the poverty of the Italian immigrant community to the power of Wall Street. But who would be his successor? Clara Maria is her father’s daughter, but she finds herself fighting against the mores of a community constrained by male dominance. Even the other women in the family seem to stand against her, even though they all know she is better qualified than her brother. This is the story of an Italian family of ambition and fortune, of that family’s daughter, and of her struggle to carry on for her father and still satisfy the man she loves. From Wall Street, to Mussolini's Italy, to California, this is a spell-binding saga of a family and its offspring.