The author's unfinished trilogy, begun in "The Octopus", continues in this novel about a trader intent on cornering the wheat market. Curtis's obsession with controlling the market and his domination of his emotionally dependent wife are the basis of this book.

This classic literary critique of turn-of-the-century capitalism in the United States reveals Norris's powerful story of an obsessed trader intent on cornering the wheat market and the consequences of his unchecked greed.