A poor merchant establishes a highly successful department store in Chicago with the purpose of providing for his four children's future. He is misguided in thinking that giving them everything they want will instil in them the same ambition that he has, and finally he discovers that their spoiled lives have led his eldest to a scandalous shooting cover-up, the second to a highly public failed marriage, the third to a music career, and the youngest to life on the streets.—John M Baughn