At the end of the Civil War, Cornelius Vanderbilt has built a formidable railroad empire centered in New York City but needs one more line to complete his portfolio: the Erie Railroad. Despite being one of the biggest companies in America, the Erie has a reputation of being unstable thanks in large part to its treasurer Daniel Drew, who shamelessly manipulated the company stock to line his pockets. This is not the first time these two titans have fought, but Drew has invariably lost out to Vanderbilt's huge wealth and friends in high places. This time, Drew has a secret weapon in two of the smartest operators on Wall Street. They were recently elected onto the Erie's board of directors and are hatching a cunning plan to stop Vanderbilt from his hostile takeover of the company and make a killing in the process.

The battle for copper pits two of Montana's larger-than-life titans, Marcus Daley and William Clark, against each other in a clash over the resource that will power America's new age of electricity. In their quest to mine "the richest hill on earth," a bitter rivalry grows, driven by greed, riddled with scandal, and capped off by corruption so great that it fuels the passage of an amendment to the United State Constitution. Daley and Clark are responsible for developing a billion dollar industry, expanding railroads, and wiring a modern world.