This is the story of Maxi Amberville and her attempt to save her father's empire from her uncle. It begins when Maxi Amberville's father Zachary is found at the bottom of a cliff and dies later. Five months later, Maxi and her siblings learn that there is a board meeting of which they were not informed. They discover that their uncle Cutter Amberville, Zachary's brother, is not only in charge but has just married their mother, and also that Cutter has decided to cease operations on four magazines that have been in the red. When Maxi learns of this she threatens to reveal to her mother some of the skeletons in Cutter's closet unless he allows her to take charge of one of the magazines that he plans to close and if she can make it get into the black, the others will remain in operation. Then the story shifts to when Zachary returned from WW2, a hero, and his family is fawning all over him, which leaves Cutter pretty much out, which is the reason for the animosity between them. Zachary then goes to New York to begin his work and he eventually starts his own magazine. Before long he has several magazines under his belt, and he also finds the love of his Nina, but she rejects his marriage proposal. He then goes to England and meets Lily, an aspiring dancer. But when she is rejected by the dancing world, she decides to accept Zachary's proposal. They have two children, Toby and Maxi. Now Zachary fawns all over Maxi, which sometimes Lily feels is too much, and when Toby is diagnosed as having a condition that will eventually leave him blind, things begin to unravel. She then has an affair with Cutter, who clearly is just using her to get at Zachary. Maxi would grow up to be Daddy's Girl, who throws herself at Rocco Cipriani, a man who works for her father. When she gets pregnant, they marry but divorce when Maxi clearly cannot survive without the lifestyle that her father provided for her. She would marry two more times. Eventually Zachary becomes aware of not only Cutter's affair with Lily but also of other machinations. He then cuts himself off from Cutter, which only fuels Cutter's hatred for him.