Tobias on fattening the cows for market, and with the help of Skillit, a former slave Tobias meets after the Civil War, who is on the run from Tallahassee to escape the Klu Klux Klan. Tobias then begins driving his cattle to market in Punta Rassa.

The cattle ranch is passed down to Zech when he marries Glenda. However, Zech also carries on an affair with a Seminole Indian named Tawanda Cypress. Both Glenda and Tawanda give Zech a son; the son shared with Glenda is named Solomon, Sol for short, while the son shared with Tawanda is named Toby Cypress.

After his parents die, Zech fully inherits both the cattle ranch and young orange groves his father had just begun. Zech becomes wealthy enough to buy thousands of acres for both cattle grazing and preserving. When both Zech and Glenda die in accidents, Sol inherits the businesses, but Sol moves to Miami where he starts businesses in real estate and produce and even starts a bank. In contrast, Toby Cypress takes up his father's task of land preservation for Seminole Indians and the wildlife. Though Sol at first doesn't understand the importance of land preservation, his perspective changes when he sees his own land being destroyed by the greed of others. By the end of his life, Sol and Toby Cypress together have created nature preserves in southern Florida.