Silas McCracken was a hard man, hard but fair according to his own reckoning, yet he knew that few would agree with him. He came from tough, highland Scot's ancestory where a Scottish pound was always a full twenty shillings, never a penny more, never a penny less. His wife Mary was of gentler stock .... From this unmatched parentage, three sons were born. The two older boys would enjoy the favour of their hard, determined father, whereas the youngest son would bear his closefisted resentment.

And so, as is often the case, the course of one's life is set from the earliest years.

As the boys grow and develop into manhood, from the quiet confines of Kinross in their native Scotland, their destinies take them along separate paths. From the moneyed towers of the London financial district, to the backstreets of Soho, and the less savoury areas of Marseilles, the McCracken influence would travel through the Mafia stronghold of Sicily, post war Germany and on to the halls of power in New York and Washington. Only the youngest son would remain true to his roots in his native land.

By different standards each son would succeed; it is for others to discern how success and failure is judged in the balance, and where the scale shall fall.