The ruthless accumulation, the spending, and the ultimate disposition of a great New Orleans fortune furnish the motive force in Grau's brilliant novel of three American generation. As his family hovers around him, heirs apparent, the ninety-five-year-old multimillionaire, Thomas Henry Oliver holds court. While the acquisition of money has liberated Oliver, unleashing his torrential energies, it has suffocated his daughter Anna, who, has retreated into religious fanaticism, and turned his younger daughter Margaret into a shrewd businesswoman, whose amusement is a series of hell-raising lovers. Robert, the poverty-stricken Cajun boy whom Oliver raised to be the son he never had, is possessed by the money. Of everyone exposed to Oliver and his gold, only the secretive black chauffeur, Stanley -- the legendary condor of the title -- appears to have held himself intact.