Fortune Barranger came from almost nothing, a sharecropper's son with big ambitions. But through his resourcefulness and decisive action, he grew a job into a business, then a business into an empire. Along the way, he saw his beloved state of Virginia progress from the post-war devastation of the 1870s to the prosperity and opportunity of the 1910s. He and his family experienced the changes too, as women were gradually made more welcome in the workplace and the advent of the car changed the city trolley system.But Fortune's business acumen didn't always extend to personal relationships, nor could his wealth shield him from the realities of life: illness, heartbreak and death. Even a fortune as vast as his couldn't solve all of life's problems.