The direction of Paul and Sean Cronin's lives was shaped the day their father, a self-made multimillionaire, decided that one of his boys would grow up to be a cardinal while the other would become president of the United States.

For his elder son, Paul, the father had even chosen a wife—the beautiful Nora, who had come to the Cronin home as an orphan child years before. Obediently, and with a genuine vocation, the younger son, Sean, went into the priesthood. With a more cynical view, Paul went to Notre Dame to prepare for a life in politics until the Korean War intervened. Then came the news—Paul Cronin was missing in action.