In New York, in 1876, Tillinghast, a banker ruined by his partner Adams Macy, swears that he will have a posthumous revenge. To do so, he marries his daughter Effie to the young and ambitious Bam, the son of a man who was hanged following a death sentence. After the demise of his rival, Adams Macy hatches his plan: he wants to destroy oil wells. To achieve this, he needs the help of a young chemistry student, Edward Longswood, the lover of his own wife, Antonia. Edward confides in his friends, Mr. Colossus (a brilliant scientist) and Dan Yoke (an anarchist poet). On her side, Effie founds, with Bam and his two companions, Trip and Mop, "The Cat with Nine Tails", a blackmail newspaper, instrument of Tillinghast's revenge. As for Clumb, owner of the bar "The Old Flag", he sequesters Jimmy, a young violinist.—Guy Bellinger