When Stephen Fox arrived in New Orleans in 1825 on a pig boat, with a ten-dollar gold piece and a pearl stick pin, he pitted himself against the indolent, slave-ridden, caste-bound planters with the skill and daring of the card-sharp he was. He gambled, won and built "Harrow," the greatest mansion house and plantation in Louisiana. He took the love of three women: Odalie Orceneaux, his wife; her sister, Aurore; and Desiree, his Black mistress. Fox had a child by each of them. This story is charged with blood and passion and strife between the races.