Description Henning Dietzel's attempt to rebuild his businesses-destroyed by a massive tidal wave-is complicated by a desire to also enjoy a satisfying personal life.
Quick to recognize opportunity, he amasses an agricultural empire the size of a small country.
But his fortunes rise and fall during three disastrous wars followed by struggles with an unscrupulous competitor, a crooked judge, and a slave trader.
All the while he doggedly courts Martine Prado, a feisty, beautiful, seemingly unattainable Peruvian aristocrat whose liberation is a century ahead of its time.
Henning accepts her proposal of a mutually advantageous marriage, which combines their haciendas.
Rocky at first, the relationship improves until an astonishing, out-of-nowhere answer to Henning's prayers threatens to destroy it.