 The focus of the book begins with a young Gideon demonstrating a knack for public speaking, and these skills follow him through his self-motivated and selfish undergraduate years at Adelbert College.The book then picks up an older but still vacuous Gideon, now a Professor of Rhetoric at Kinnikinick College, when he finally meets the girl of his dreams; young coed Peony Jackson of Faribault, Minnesota.Motivated by vague dreams of importance, including a dream of becoming a U.S. senator, Gideon begins his campaign for social ascension by moving from one job to another with the hopes of meeting "like-minded thinkers" with vague goals and even more flexible morals when it came to raising money for a wide variety of causes.