The Reichmanns are a prosperous farming family. The envy of Blue Earth County, Minnesota, they delight in their good fortune and their three blond sons. But when World War II shatters the dreams they worked so hard to build, the youngest, Billy-Ray, vows to confront the world that has so betrayed them. It is no accident that he becomes an unrivalled oil prospector, driven to tame the untameable land that makes him so rich and powerful, yet leaves him always wanting. From the oil fields of Alaska, to the country estates of the English aristocracy, Billy-Ray seeks forgiveness in the arms of the women he seduces, and begs deliverance from the landscapes he so ruthlessly exploits. Set against the dramatic elements that constitute the world we live in: the unfathomable power of the sea, the unstable nature of the ground we walk on and the destructive force of human endeavour, Jules Hardy takes us on an epic journey of love, adventure and human fallibility.