Queen Victoria is on the throne when a young lad loses his father to the deadly black lung disease and a young farmer loses his family to influenza. The two are destined to meet with long lasting consequences for young Ephraim who now has to live with his uncle, a coal merchant in Newport. Chance and ambition allow Ephraim to begin to build what will become a business empire. When his wife dies, a disillusioned Ephraim takes a sabbatical and a passionate affair with the daughter of his agent in Recife leads to a new chapter in his life. He passes his empire to his family who introduce the import of frozen food from the antipodes and build their first refrigerated cargo ship, Takapuna Princess.