In this novel a study is presented of a common enough American experience, but from a new point of view. Copley, the wheat king, has cornered the American supply of wheat. His daughter Marcia, who is in Italy, is forced to see the people starving and rebellious because her father's maneuvers in the market have raised the price of daily bread. Her uncle, with whom she is living, endeavors to lighten the suffering which his brother has caused by distributing money among the starving Italians; but his generosity is misunderstood, and his niece is hooted and almost mobbed in the street as the "Wheat princess," who is helping to grind the faces of the poor. Lawrence Sybert, the secretary of the American legation at Rome, appears as the man of mystery both protecting and reproving the people. Of course, there are other characters, many of them, but they amount to little in the general current of the story, which is strong, graphic, and truthful.