For the Pilasters, sex and love are weapons in a war for power and wealth and one explosive secret becomes the weak link that can bring down a dynasty. In 1866, a pupil at an exclusive public school drowns in a mysterious accident involving several boys. Among them are young Hugh Pilaster; his cousin Edward, the weak dissolute heir to the Pilaster banking fortune; and Micky Miranda, the darkly handsome son of a brutal South American land owner. The drowning and its aftermath initiate a spiralling circle of treachery that will last for three decades and entwine many lives.