Jazz's heritage is the Kilkullen Ranch, her extraordinary family home. It is an unspoiled cattle ranch that lies on the coast between Los Angeles and San Diego. Originally a Spanish Land Grant to Jazz's ancestors, the ranch is a huge spread encompassing sixty square miles, making Mike Kilkullen, Jazz's father the single largest landowner in California.

The Kilkullen Ranch is a gem now worth three billion dollars. When Jazz's father dies mysteriously, developers all over the world start a stampede to claim it.

Added to this mix are the dynamics of the Kilkullen family's internal strife: the hatred Mike Kilkullen's first wife still feels towards him; the tragedy of Jazz's exquisite, stubborn mother, and the machinations of Jazz's two half sisters, one a worldly New York interior decorator, the other a five-times-married socialite who lives only for sexual experimentation.