The story of the author's connection to Friendship Hill, a house built in the 1760s at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers. She concentrates on the story of Albert Gallatin, who came to the New World from Geneva and became a prominent American about whom we hear little in the present. He knew Voltaire, Napoleon, and Lafayette, among others. He was Secretary of the Treasury for both Jefferson and Madison, actually convinced Jefferson to purchase the Louisiana Purchase, and has been described as "the most distinguished European-born citizen in the political service of the United States"