Albert Crosby, a shrewd and industrious Yankee gentleman travels to Chicago in a prairie schooner with $10,000 worth of mercantile goods to pursue his lifelong quest for financial independence. His business venture becomes so successful family members are summoned to the Midwest to help him. Despite his financial success, Albert's personal life deteriorates because his wife, Margaret, refuses to remain in Chicago. During the Civil War, Albert manufactures medicinal alcohol and becomes a millionaire. He joins a colorful militia group and is befriended by President Lincoln. After the war, Albert assumes the ownership of his cousin's opera house. Following extensive refurbishing, it becomes a victim of the disastrous Chicago Fire of 1871. His losses are staggering, but he manages to salvage his brewery and begin anew. Eventually, Albert divorces his estranged wife and marries Matilda and then plunges into bankruptcy. After years of hard work, many challenges and setbacks, Albert returns to his native Brewster on Cape Cod and builds an ostentatious mansion. With integrity and innate ingenuity, Albert manages to triumph over many adversities and achieves happiness with his second wife, in "Tawasentha," the castle of his dreams.