Chapter 2: Metropolis - Ed Thatcher is feeling lonely and he looked at the Journal and he sees that New York is named at the 2nd largest metropolis and Ed then mocks his father who warned him not to leave his hometown and store in Onteora. Ed says he left because of his wife Susie. Meanwhile an L train rumbles by the house and Ed hears there is a fire. The fire is in a tenement house and Ed goes to watch it. This fire seems to be a case of arson and Ed actually meets this “firebug” as they calls arsons and gets scared so he runs home and locks the door. In another part of the city, a real estate agent is trying to tell Mr. Perry that there are new investment and development possibilities in the city and that they should take advantage of it. Mr. Perry is thinking of this and wants something more “dead safe.” Bud listens to the advice of the food shack guy and goes to get a “shave an a haircut.” He reads an article on a 14 year old boy killing his mother by pushing her down the stairs. A few years later, Ellen Thatcher is playing as a little girl on top of the news papers and she gets the screamed at by her parents. Personally I think Ed is closer to Ellen and likes her dancing on the news paper but due to the events at Ellen's birth, I think Susie harbors some mal-intent at Ellen. Elsewhere, a man tells his girlfriend that he got a 2 dollar raise so its sixty dollars a month but she is unimpressed and runs away and he has tears in his eyes as he says he hates her. We meet Emile and Congo, two men that works on a French military vessel. They seems to not like their duty and seems to dream of America, Congo dreams more of girls. Back at Ed's place, Susie Thatcher lies sick at home and she overhears a Russian Jewish girl talking about how she won't go back to her husband. Bud is looking for a job and Emile is a waiter at some fancy restaurant. Olafsons is trying to get a house and they lie about their income status. We find Bud washing dishes and a milkman named Gus McNeil gets run over by a train after he drinks beer.

Chapter 3: Dollars - In Dollars, we find George Baldwin who is a unsuccessful lawyer, bored out of his mind, and he reads about Gus's accident and decides to tell them to sue the train company. George falls in love with Gus Baldwin's wife. Meanwhile, Ellen and Alice are friends and they are playing some kind of imaginary game. Baldwin pursues Nellie (Baldwin's wife) and she gives him to his advances and they get involved to the notice of the neighbors. Emile is in some kind of store where the lady is singing songs to him and he is taking care of the customers. Ed and Ellen are watching boats come to and leave New York and Ellen is asking Ed why they are not rich. Ed responds saying there are people that are worse off than they are. Bud helps a women carry coal in return for the dollar in payment but after the work is done, she gives him lunch and a quarter and kicks him out of the house with threats of police getting involved. She completely “ripped” Bud off. Jimmy Kerf and his mother come in to New York Harbor and they see the status of Liberty and they go with their Aunt Emily and Uncle Jeff on a cab. Gus is back and is excited by the prospect of a case against the train company for his injuries but does not suspect Nellie and Baldwin in their affair. Phil Sandbourne talks to Baldwin about how they are going to be buildings of steel and glass in the future. Baldwin is frustrated by the case and its details and the toll it is taking on him.

Chapter 4: Tracks - Jimmy and his mother Lily are eating and Lily seems to be ill. She tells jimmy to go out and buy some chocolate creams when he comes back, he seems his mother in bad shape. Later at night, a doctor and a nurse as well as his Aunt Emily are present in the room with his mother. At the same time, Emile wants to work in Madame Rigaud's store but she says she suffered at the hands of men too much and refuses him. Baldwin's success and fortunes changed when he won the Gus case and he started to get more cases. Baldwin sees Nellie and tells her that she should divorce Gus and be with him but she refuses and almost breaks into tears. Bud is drinking with another man named Laplander Matty (he's Japanese) and after some trouble in the bar, they go to Pearl Street to pick up prostitutes. At another part of the city, Phineas P. Blackhead, a attorney that works for the railroad is trying to stop the workers from going on strike. Jimmy is taken in by his Uncle and family after his mother had a stroke and he meets his cousins Maisie and James Merivale and Jimmy's uncle talks about how the Catholics and Jews are taking over the city. Joe Harland, visits the family as a surprise and he is a broke broker who had success in the stock markets long time ago. After an encounter with his cousin Maisie, he runs back to his own house. Congo comes back from his journeys and meets up with Emile and he tells Emile to get Madame Rigaud jealous of him so he can get her to fall for him. Meanwhile, the lunatic Susie is gone so now Ed Thatcher is along with his daughter. Ed is working hard so he can climb the ladders of success.

Chapter 5: Steamroller - Time has passed and its now years later. Jimmy Herf is now grown and he is trying to remember his mother after she has died from her stroke near the hillside road in Yonkers. Emile tries harder to get the Madame to fall for her. Meanwhile a fire is happening and the police caught the firebug, a Blackman and they are beating him. Emile sees this and comes back and asks Madame when they are getting married. Ellen is grown as well, and she is heading to Atlantic city with her friend named John and she is sick (real bad) and is vomiting. Meanwhile, Jimmy is sharing lunch with his Uncle Jeff and his uncle is telling him that he should do what his cousin did and work hard to get to the top of the family firm. Jimmy gets angry at this notion. Bud is troubled and cannot be calm. He is in a run down area with other men and he talks of how he killed his father and to get away, he came to the city. Bud is already crazy and he goes to the bridge and jumps off so they detectives cannot follow him. The captain of Prudence, a tugboat, Captain McAvoy sees Bud jump off and pulls up his dead body.

Chapter 6: Great Lady on a White Horse - More time has passed now. Jimmy is a journalist and he is having an affair with a lady named Ruth Prynne, who is an older women and a jobless actress. Cassandra Wilkins is a neighbor of Jimmy and she tells Jimmy that Ruth talks a lot about him. We find out that Mr. Oglethorpe is married to Elaine, formerly known as Ellen Thatcher. Jimmy also sees Mrs. Sunderland, the oldest lady in that building going to the bathroom. Jimmy and Ruth leaves the buildings because Jimmy complains that the place is bothering him. Ellen is walking around the city and finally meets George Baldwin for lunch at Brevoort. We find out that Ellen calls her husband jojo and that Baldwin and Ellen are most probably having an affair. Stanwood Emery, son of Baldwin's partner arrives at the lunch table and remarks how he saw Ellen perform on-stage. And not so long after this, John Oglethorpe also encounters with Ellen. Ellen leaves Baldwin after refusing to go with him to theater and runs into Stan, who takes Ellen on his ford and they drive past the girl on the white horse (same that Ellen encountered earlier in the chapter as she was waking around the city).

Chapter 7: Long Legged Jack of the Isthmus - We need Joseph (Joe) Harland who is worried about his job and is in a state of despair at the direction his life is heading. He seems to have no luck in his life since his lucky tie was destroyed by a girl that he once loved. We also know now that he was a successful man and he attributed his success to his lucky tie. Ellen and Stan seem to hang out more often now and they are having an affair now. Ellen and Stan get some drinks and Ellen heads home drunk on the feelings of romance and her success in theater business. Later we find out from Ruth Prynne's and Jimmy's conversation that Ellen and her husband, John Oglethorpe had a huge fight. He has a pistol and a gay guy named Tony Hunter managed to get the pistol away. Ellen goes to her room and won't answer John Oglethorpe so he spends the night with Tony. The landlady Miss Costello tells John to leave the building in the morning. Joseph Harland is desperate and is asking people for money. Mrs. Budkowitz, Joe's landlady is asking for rent which is overdue and Joe has nowhere to turn. He's being turned down for loans and money requests. Cassandra Wilkins and Morris McAvoy are “hooked” up now and he is worried about how poor he is. He seems to get the notion that with money, you can have everything and Cassandra breaks off with him because she could not live with his pitiful state. Ellen also breaks it off with John Oglethorpe and tells Cassandra not to tell and packs her things and leaves.

Chapter 8: Nine Days' Wonder - Phil Sandbourne walking on fifth avenue when he seems a girl and he's so caught up in that moment that he does not see a car come by and hit him. Jimmy Herf is visited by his old time friend Stan from Harvard and we find out that Jimmy graduated from Columbia and they talk of how everyone wants to succeed and Stan says he wants to meet someone who wants to fail for a change and Jimmy says that's ok as long as you have some money to live on. Jimmy is thinking about moving to Mexico but Stan takes him to meet Ellen in a café. They are surprised to see her with her husband but Jimmy is captured by her. After jojo (John) leaves, Ellen asks Jimmy to sit with her. Harry Goldweiser a man who's almost like Ellen's agent is asking her if she wants to be the nine day's wonder and he is stumped by this. Meanwhile, Baldwin is eating with his wife Cecily and she wants a divorce. The newspaper headlines say that the World War I has begun because of the assassination of the Archduke. Baldwin tells Cecily that his divorce would hurt his professional life so he promises to set up a arrangement for her. Ellen is at her new room and she is happy that she is owning the place by herself. She is also happy that her husband will let her divorce him if she wants to. Cassandra visits Ellen and tells her that she is pregnant and Ellen advices her to get married or go to a doctor. Joe Harland is now working as a night watchman and he refuses to join in on a strike because this is his most solid job. Jimmy is lying alone in his bed and Ellen sneaks in to tell him that she cannot go back to her husband while he's in that condition. At the same time, John Oglethorpe spots Ellen and gets mad at her and calls her a slut. Ellen visits her father Ed and tells him that she has to look for a job now and that she is divorcing John Oglethorpe and her “friend” George Baldwin is going to help her with it.

Chapter 9: Fire Engine - Ellen is walking with Harry Goldweiser and he is talking about how he loves her. She does not seem to care for him. They want to go to Coney Island together. Gus McNeil is now a wealthy man and he is getting involved in politics and in strikes. Baldwin advises him to not get involved and stay out of the political world. Joe O'Keefe meets with Joe Harland and he tells how he wishes to be as educated as Harland. Stan comes drunk to Ellen's dressing room and her helper Missy and Ellen hide Stan in the bathroom until everyone is gone and gets him out the backdoor and into a cab after Ellen finished her performance. Harry Goldweiser likes Ellen's new role as an emotional actress. Ellen wants Stan to stop getting drunk so much and she is saying it is getting out of control, “beyond a joke.”

Chapter 10: Went to the Animals' Fair - Baldwin take Ellen to a inn or a roadhouse and there they meet the McNeils. World War I is in full swing and the neighbor hood is terrified by some rape/suicide crime that took place regarding a father and daughter. Baldwin is in love with Ellen and is distracted and captured by her. Seeing Nellie again makes him remember his climb to success from an accident but feel empty. He promises to do anything for Elaine (Ellen) and Ellen is busy watching jojo's friends. Tony Hunter and Jimmy Herf are sitting a few tables away (jojo's friends) and they are talking about the war and the murder case with Grant Bullock (a sailor) and Congo Jake (the French barkeep). Congo tells his story of why and what he experienced and Ellen goes over and dances with Jimmy. Baldwin gets jealous and pulls a gun on Ellen and Gus disarms him with no harm done. Baldwin calls Ellen a prostitute. Jimmy gets a cab for Ellen and he heads out with Tony Hunter. Tony Hunter thought Jimmy was gay but Jimmy comforts him.

Chapter 11: Five Statutory Questions - Joe O'Keefe takes Joe Harland to his house and he tells Harland of what happened at the inn with Baldwin. They also talk of the war and a woman Harland calls “Charwoman” kicks Harland out of the house. When Ellen was at a nightclub with Harry Goldweiser, Stan drops by and he talks of how he went to Montreal and the whole round trip and when he came back, he found himself married to a girl named Pearline and Ellen is mad. She just walks off after saying Good night to Stan. Jimmy Herf and Joe Harland meet each other in Manhattan and Joe recognizes Jimmy and Lily's son. He says that his mother had high hopes for Jimmy and wants to see him succeed. Jimmy and Joe share some drinks and they head off, jimmy sees a picture of Ellen in the newspaper stating she is a rising new star.

Chapter 12: Rollercoaster - Stan is in a drunken brawl and he is completely out of it. He is cursing everything, cursing his very young wife Pearline Anderson and he goes to his apartment and throws things around. Then he turns on the gas and lights a match and engulfs himself in flames. He could not think straight and he was drunk out of control because he was liking the spinning kitchen walls and floors. When Pearline comes back, she is shocked to see her apartment on fire. Lately she had been worried about Stan and the direction he was heading. Apparently Stan wanted to be a architect and wanted to be successful but his drinking destroyed him. The firemen goes to bring Stan out and Pearline is out cold.

Chapter 13: One more River to Jordan - Baldwin and Phil Sandbourne are riding on the subway and as they walk up Lexington avenue, Baldwin is saying how he cannot affort a scandal with Ellen especially since and his wife has reached a mutual agreement. Phil is talking about having tiles with multiple tiles so the city does not look all boorish gray color. Ellen is getting called via phone restlessly by people trying to win her favor and Ruth Prynne and Cassandra Wilkins visit her to say that Stan is dead. Ellen has a moment of sickness when she hears the news but quickly recovers and continues her conversation. Ellen and Harry Goldweiser are staring out at the city from rooftop and Harry is saying how the city does not seem to recognize true talent. He says that Ellen would be the best actress and Goldweiser the best producer in a good world. Ellen meanwhile seems sad and lost in the city; as if she is searching for something that no one could quiet understand. Jimmy and Ellen go to a restaurant and Jimmy gets into the debate about rights of Proletariat vs. lot of downtrodden. Jimmy and Ellen talk and she reveals that she has Stan's baby and that she is going to give up acting and raise it. Jimmy is heartfelt. While later, a woman enters a doctor's office and he gives her an abortion and she leaves.

Chapter 14: Rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly - Its 1918 and James Merivale is back from Europe and the war and he is reunited with his family. His father Jeff is dead now. Ellen and Jimmy have a baby named Martin and they are coming into New York Harbor. Frances and Bob Hildebrand and friends of Ellen and Jimmy so they take Ellen and the baby to a hotel while Jimmy fixes the things with the luggage. Baldwin still writes to Ellen and calls himself her lifelong slave and admirer. Joe O'Keefe, now a Sergeant-Major and his friend Dutch Robertson has come back to NY and they feel right back at home. Jimmy and Ellen (Ellen is sometimes called Helena) eats with Jimmy's cousins, the Merivales. Jimmy is interested in newspapers again and both Jimmy and Ellen were active in the Red Cross and had a “war romance.” Joe O'Keefe is fighting for veteran rights and security when they come back home and he finds out he has syphilis. Gus McNeil and his friend Densch try to convince Baldwin to run for office but he turns it down. Meanwhile the red scare is in effect and people are getting deported.

Chapter 15: Nickelodeon - Ruth Prynne meets her friend Billy Waldron and they talk about how work is hard to find now and the old times when they were in good shape. Dutch Robertson is walking around the city with his girl Francie and he is taking about his war days, and how money is hard to get and the jobs hard to find. Jimmy and Ellen go to a restaurant and they meet Congo and he tells them that he's the best bootlegger in New York City. Ellen did not take up acting again and she is having a troubled relationship with Jimmy. They seem to start encountering those little irritations in their relationship. Anna dances with various partners for various songs until she goes to her friend.

Chapter 16: Revolving Doors - Jake Silverman and Rosie are involved in some kind of criminal activity, larceny, and his motive is that once they get the money, they can keep the other people on a leash. That their problems would go away as soon as they get the job done. Jimmy's cousins, Merivales, are eating and they are taking about marriage. James wants a say in Maisie's finance, who is Jack. Tony Hunter is dancing with a girl named Nevada Jones, who was dating Baldwin but is now cheating on him with Tony. Tony is seeing a doctor who tells him to see more girls and that his problem is in the mind. Tony thinks otherwise. Baldwin and Gus have lunch with Nevada and Baldwin decides to run for office, on the promise of reforms. Gus McNeil tells Joe O'Keefe that he needs to stop raising all these protests about the veterans because they are being taken care of by New York State and there is no way we can pay them more without raising taxes for the common man, stated like a politician. Dutch Robertson is reading a paper article on a bank robbery. Jimmy and Congo is at an illegal bar and they are drinking. Some men on a boat some to steal alcohol and Congo and his partner Cardinale fight them off, with a little damage to Congo's fake leg. Jimmy saw a girl and he's thinking about the past, when things used to be good with Ellen. James Merivale finds out that his sister's fiancé has a wife already named Mrs. Jack Cunningham and she's 18 years old. Phineas Blackhead and Densch talk about supporting or not supporting Baldwin's bid for office and the reaction it would have on Gus McNeil. Ellen wants Jimmy to get another room, sleep separate. A girl named Anna is addressed by a guy named Elmer who tells her to pay her union dues so they can protect her rights. Nellie visits Baldwin to try to get him to not run on the reform ticket on behalf of Gus. Baldwin also knows of Tony and Nevada and breaks off with her. Nevada wants to make Tony into a man. James Merivale and Jack see each other and make appointment for dinner. Ellen is an editor for a magazine called Manners. Ruth is lost in life and Ellen is comforts her. Ellen and Ruth meet Cassandra Wilkins and John Oglethorpe at a party. We find out Tony is not gay anymore and Jimmy Herf is known as bolshevik pacifist. Police raids the party to make arrests for alcohol but Ellen has Baldwin, the district attorney, to call off the raid. Jimmy and Ellen are getting cold in their relationship, he asks for a divorce but Ellen reminds Jimmy of Martin. Jake Silverman is arrested by Department of Justice officials for using mail to defraud people.

Chapter 17: Sky Scrapers - Jimmy quit his job and things are not going good in his life. Dutch Robertson got a gun and he's making Francie worry for his sanity. Anna and her mother argue about her life and she gets kicked out. Anna is also involved in the strike for the garment workers and Elmer tells her the strikes are opportunities for the workers. Jimmy is thinking of leaving NY for a couple of days. Dutch tells Francie he robbed a store. Brewster the reporter interviews the store owner Ike Goldstein and the conditions are bad. Jimmy reads that Dutch got arrested along with Francie because she was pregnant and when they went to the hospital, the nurse got suspicious from all the money Dutch had and called the cops.

Chapter 18: The Burthen of Nineveh - Densch and his wife move out of New York for good and he ends his business career. Marin and Ellen are along again, afraid of the world outside the crib. Ellen and George Baldwin meet up again in a hotel and Baldwin tells her that his wife Cecily is divorcing him. Baldwin kinda posses the question to Ellen and after the second time, she accepts. Ellen seems to accept because she has no choice and she wants the best for her baby. Alice Sheffield is having an affair with Buck and they talk about money and how the woman that lives above Alice is performing illegal abortions. A homeless man tells Joe and Skinny that there are more wicked people in a block of New York City than in the whole city of Nineveh, and it would take God seven seconds to destroy it all. Jimmy is in a limo with Congo. Congo is married now and he is now called Armand Duval. We find out that Ellen is going to marry Baldwin and Baldwin is going to run for mayor. Jimmy finds out Neveda Jones is the one that married Armand Duval (Congo) and Tony is gone. James reads in the paper that Densch and Balckhead are in the slumps, 10 million dollars lost. He also knows of Jimmy's wife's reputation to sleep around. James is dreaming of his own success while taking satisfaction in Jimmy's failure. Anna is going to sleep with a man named Dick because shes upset about the strike. Jack and Maisie are married but Florence was married to Jack in high school and she is remembering it. Dutch Robertson gets 20 years in prison. Phineas Blackhead is pissed at loosing his fortunes and wants to sell everything he got to get some of the money paid off. Ellen is shopping at Madame Soubrine's shop and a fire breaks out and Anna gets burned. Ellen also quit her job. Jimmy is leaving New York. He gets breakfast and gets on a truck and heads out to somewhere.