The child of immigrants, Houghton Forster has always wanted more. As a young boy in Mississippi he worked twelve-hour days at his father's drugstore; to his invention of a fizzy drink that would transform him into the founder of an empire, the Panola Cola Company. Houghton and his wife Annabelle raise their four children with the expectation they'll one day become world leaders. But eldest son Montgomery, a handsome and successful politician, never recovered from the horrors and heartbreak of the Great War. Younger twins Ramsey and Lance are rivals in their utter carelessness with the lives and hearts of others. Their brother Harold is slowed by a mental disability. Now Houghton must seriously consider who should control the company after he's gone. -- adapted from jacket