A biography of the English mechanical genius who, in 1789, defied laws forbidding the emigration of textile workers and established the American textile industry in Rhode Island.

"The Leonides are one big happy family living in a sprawling, ramshackle mansion. That is until the head of the household, Aristide, is murdered with a fatal barbiturate injection. Suspicion naturally falls on the old man's young widow, fifty years his junior. But the murderer has reckoned without the tenacity of Charles Hayward, fiancé of the late millionaire's granddaughter."--The publisher.

Four teenaged friends go out for a practice drive one night when the driver hits and possibly kills a pedestrian.