As an influential newspaper publisher in post-World War II New York, Zachary Benton seems infallible. But when his beautiful and icy wife, Hanna, discovers he's been having an affair with Sarah, his Pulitzer prize-winning reporter, and that the girl is pregnant, Zachary realizes just how much he has to lose. Zachary's once-charmed life becomes a hellscape as he attempts to keep Sarah safe from the increasingly frightening Hanna, while dealing with his paper's escalating coverage of the war in Vietnam. Sarah, now visibly pregnant and hiding in a small town in Oklahoma, is unable to stay away from the newspaper business and her instincts for investigative reporting turn up far more than she expected. As their son, Dax, grows to adulthood, he struggles to find his own identity. When he leaves New York to study journalism at the University of Chicago, Dax begins to craft two new lives for himself: one as an outstanding student and intern at the Chicago Tribune, and the other as a playboy, seducing the rich and neglected wives of Chicago. When Dax forms the Wine Enthusiasts Club, his two worlds merge into one, surrounding him with a group of women so fanatically devoted to him that they're willing to do anything for him - even murder.