In northern California, a small mountain looms out of the sea. It is joined to the mainland by a causeway built during the gold rush by the most famous prospector of them all, James Hill, who found enough gold nuggets to make himself a millionaire several times over. But he was a crazy old bird, faithful to one wife who bore him one son. That son, James Dudley Hill was as stingy as his father was spendthrift. He too died, leaving one son - James Hill III, who at this moment, is on the telephone.