At the height of the Great Depression in 1937 a young man's life is permanently changed by the careless actions of a truck driver at a busy intersection in Manhattan. Struck by the massive vehicle he is badly crippled for life. Bribery and lies take away his hope of moneyto pay his monumental medical bills. Revenge becomes the dominationg force in his life as he turns to con games to steal from insurancecompanies by creating fraudulent claims.He becomes a master at the game. He comes to the attention of an experienced investigator whobecomes obsessed with his desire to trap and punish the master of the scam. Set against an era of financial hardship and World War II his struggle for existence and facing the dangers of a world war makes this a story of a man's remarkable drive to survive.