It is 1795 in Williamsburg, Virginia, as the son of an alcoholic father and bastard mother grows up in poverty. Still, little Andrew Blackstone is resolute to make something of his life-and does years later when he acquires a fortune through illegal slave trade. Determined to achieve economic and social dominance, Andrew eventually marries into the Wellworth family, rich in ancestry but poor in purse. His wife, Rebecca, who was raised by a slave until...