In the years of the American War of Independence, at the end of the 18th century, a woman challenges the British occupying army in New York. Her revolutionary actions will not go unpunished. She will be taken to the gallows.

Fifty years later, her son hides deep within him a festering wound, his guilt for the role he unwittingly played in her demise. In 19th-century New York, amidst a commercial frenzy, the sensitive son of a ruthless merchant is forced to forgo the love of his life because of his father's prejudices against the immigrants flooding the city. Madness and an outbreak of violence ensue.

In the early 21st century, a psychiatrist in Manhattan tries to help her beloved patient, who has been shaken by the destruction of the World Trade Center, while avoiding realizing how profoundly she has been affected by the event herself.

Three gripping stories from the pen of a master storyteller that illuminate the past and present of the metropolis of the world.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]