Years ago, Shad Sentell and his brother E.M. founded Omega Oil. Now Omega is an international giant, E.M. had become a slick tycoon, and Shad has stayed raw and real. Because of a past betrayal, the two brothers hate each other, but E.M. needs Shad. Omega's biggest well, Okeanos, is ablaze in the Gulf, and only Shad can put it out. A lustful but sympathetic lover of women, hard-drinking and hard-brawling, Shad blazes a riotous trail across Louisiana that includes the wildest Mardi Gras that New Orleans has ever seen and culminates in an explosive confrontation with Okeanos--and with E.M., when long-kept family secrets are finally revealed.