This is a story of the career of Hugh Paret from youth to manhood.  The phrase "a far country" is from the Biblical parable of the prodigal son who takes everything he is given and runs off to fulfill his own desires.  Paret leaves Great Britain where he grew up and travels to America with his worldly goods while gathering up and refining other more useful talents which provide him the greater wealth of honor and a standard of excellence.  Once in the New World he attends Harvard, graduates, is admitted to the bar and joins a firm of corporate lawyers, the first of their kind.  He is introduced to new people, different customs, and various adventures when he enters the world of big business as it announces the awakening of social ethics.  In his travels to this dangerous excitement of situation, he uses his business flair tumultuously as he gains strength and knowledge in its execution.  But far from being a pariah, he is recognized as one of the world's prosperous men in this fascinatingly detailed journey.  The intrigue of this strange powerful world is something he has the experience and ability to manipulate to his own ends.