THE MAGNIFICENT SAGA OF A MAN POSSESSED BY POWER - AND THE WOMAN HE COULDN'T FORGET... Power was his passion and his destiny, the eternal flame in the heart of darkness that carried Franz Stoessel through the white-hot hell of Pennsyvania's steel mills to the top of the dynasty he had once served... From the great blast furnaces to the splendors of the Schmidt mansion, he blazed a trail of blind ambition and burning hate. EMMI, his mother, disowned him... ERNESTINE, his heiress-wife, gave him her hand and lost her heart... IRMGARD, his cousin, his curse, loved him with all her woman's ardor - and despised him with all the strength of her indomitable soul.