"Spanning much of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the novel follows the fortunes of the extraordinary Whittaker family as led by the enterprising Henry Whittaker--a poor-born Englishman who makes a great fortune in the South American quinine trade, eventually becoming the richest man in Philadelphia"-- The tree of fevers -- The plum of White Acre -- The disturbance of messages -- The consequence of missions -- The curator of mosses.