In an era of dazzling prosperity and social upheaval, a young man finds his path entangled with a captivating enigma. Our narrator, a descendant of sturdy Midwestern stock, inherits a legacy of temperance and perspectives shaped by privilege. Upon war’s conclusion, he ventures eastward, yearning to carve out his destiny in the frenetic bond trade.

An abode in an unconventional, vibrant locale becomes his vantage point for observing the tapestry of American high society. Here, he encounters a figure of boundless hope and dreams, a paragon of illusory splendor whose reality is underscored by longing and decay. In this narrative, the soul’s labyrinthine corridors are explored, bringing to light the irony of desire and the bitter aftermath of a vanished dream.