To most people who knew him, G. Harold Powell was a brilliant scientist, a pomologist who helped shape the citrus industry of Southern California as general manager of the Sunkist Cooperative. But to his immediate family, and particularly to his son Laurie, Powell was a mystery. He died when Laurie was still a youngster, leaving behind a number of unsolved puzzles. Not until fifty years after the man's death did Lawrence Clark Powell finally begin to know his father. By now, young Powell was a distinguished man of letters in his own right. While staying in Paris, he came upon some letters and other documents revealing the truth about the elder Powell's private life--and private affairs. G. Harold Powell, it appears, had also spent time in Paris. Thus, the novelization begins.