Two brothers, Nino and Nicholas Cienza, eight years apart in age and light years apart in lifestyle, struggle throughout their lives to maintain a relationship despite their differences. Nino, the older of the pair, becomes an attorney after years of struggling to meet tuition payments. Nicky, the only other male in this blue-collar immigrant family, turns to racketeering at a very young age.
The disparity in their chosen careers leads to continuous conflict, yet they somehow manage to remain closely linked through court cases, prison terms, female relationships, political campaigns and even gun battles until Nicky's illness and subsequent death.
The story opens in a deteriorating industrial city in New Jersey whose economic base has fallen prey to the promise of tax inducements and cheap labor in the Cotton Belt. As jobs disappeared, so did many of the Old World customs and traditions that had been the glue holding the immigrant community of mill workers together.
The tale of the Cienza brothers unfolds against the background of these changing socio-economic conditions. The story then winds through Washington, Manhattan and Victoria City (pseudonym for Atlantic City) as the brothers cross paths repeatedly, often with dire consequences.
