In 1907, Upton Sinclair looked forward 93 years and imagined the year 2000, when capitalism would find its zenith with the construction of The Pleasure Palace, a glittering 100-story-high
structure in the middle of New York's Central Park. During the grand opening of the towering building, a scientific experiment with radiumite explodes, killing everybody throughout the world
except eleven people at the Pleasure Palace.
These survivors struggle to rebuild their lives by creating a new capitalistic society. After that fails, along with several other efforts, they create a utopian society on the lush grounds of
a grand country estate in the Pocantico Hills above the Hudson River, embodying Sinclair's life-long vision of "The Cooperative Commonwealth."
