The year is 1810, and a small weather beaten farm house squats on the edge of Staten Island, overlooking New York harbor. It is the home of the Vanderbilts. In the yard, his cold, blue eyes trained on the fleet of bobbing vessels which skims across the bay, stands young Cornelius Vanderbilt, a crag like youth with a square jaw and fists like the blocks on a main sail. Mature before his time, he's the roughest, toughest and most headstrong of the whole Vanderbilt brood. Eagerly he stares at the swinging ships, then spits decisively into the dust and makes for the house. He has made up his mind. He is going to leave the farm, and form a career as a boat owner.