In the fictional town of Durham, the Pentlands are a proud and wealthy family with a rich history dating back to the founding colony of Massachusetts Bay. Everything is how it should be with John, the elder patriarch; his son Anson and his wife Olivia; and their children, Jack and Sybil, carrying on in the way that upper-class society families do. But the world is changing... Old money is moving out and dying off. New money is moving...