In the cut-throat world of late eighteenth-century America, business is booming and men are making fortunes in nefarious ways. None becomes more ruthless than industrialist Frank Cowperwood, who climbs the corporate ladder and the social classes by cheating, betrayal, and greed. He marries an older woman and has two children, but when he falls in love with Aileen Butler, this daughter of another prominent industrialist may be his downfall in both business and social life.