The pursuit of riches forever ends in a blissful finale, at least in a proud man's dream. But beware the dreaded consequences of what is, indeed, a madman's fateful ambition.Set against the backdrop of an enlightened New World, Barnabas Thaymes, the wily and ruthless keeper of the bank from the Old Continent, seeks infinite fortune and everlasting reign in the lands beyond the sea. But his foes on both continents- some evil, others just- have their own ambitions.Thus begins a witty yet poignant tale that unveils the compassion, greed, decadence and passion of humanity. In order to defeat the treacherous keeper, the noble cede to deceit, the unscrupulous turn to good, and the evil become all the more ruthlessly devious.Thaymes's desires will not be sated until he schemes the seductively cunning Magdalena, the credulous King Oswald, the portentous Governor Isaac York, the noble and virgin Josefina, and the powerful plantation owner Constantine de Villar. But Thaymes is not aware that they are exploiting him with the same guileful intent, as is Horace Crane, the sinister agent who works one against the other in hopes to see all to their death. Thaymes's days in the New World colony of Yorktown are not the paradise he sought, as throughout his journey of adventure, drama and mystery the pursuit of fortune proves to be more perilous than he supposed. His foes seek his humbling domination, the swindling of his profits, and his imminent death.As the king battles a sadistic queen and an ambitious emperor for control of the New World, Barnabas Thaymes pursues his grand desires, vowing to at last seize the supremacy he craves. As the keeper has realized all his life: once he attains endless fortune and abundant prominence he has, at last, truly entered paradise.