這是一個被迷惑的上流家庭。《野蠻的優雅》是金錢、瘋狂、亂倫、弒母的悲劇改編自真實發生的故事，也是美國夢最陰暗的一角。
貴婦芭芭拉美麗、有錢又有社交手腕，先生風流，兒子則是英俊溫柔。這一切，人人稱羨；這一切，都是得來不易的。年輕時，憑著美麗的外貌，芭芭拉幾乎要踏上電影之途，但她卻選擇了努力上游向錢看齊。也終於，她攀附上權貴，擠身嫁入石油、塑膠、地產三財在握的富豪世家。然而，這一切，也都是易破碎的。習於玩樂與美色的先生，當然很快就對芭芭拉喜新厭舊。得不到丈夫歡心的芭芭拉，只好將全副心力放在兒子東尼身上，極盡的溺愛和保護。
《野蠻的優雅》的故事背景發生在歐美的大城市，紐約、倫敦、義大利與西班牙，故事中的主角也與當時歐洲名人有互動，作者也徹底研究了這個悲劇家庭的訪問、通信與日記，甚至還有就醫紀錄、監獄紀錄等等。絕對是一個真是犯罪小說，也揭露了世人最好奇的故事，所有最華麗、多金的生活。
A spellbinding tale of money and madness, incest and matricide, Savage Grace is the saga of Brooks and Barbara Baekeland -- beautiful, rich, worldly -- and their handsome, gentle son, Tony. Alternately neglected and smothered by his parents, he was finally driven to destroy the whole family in a violent chain of events.
Savage Grace unfolds against a glamorous international background (New York, London, Paris, Italy, Spain); features a nonpareil cast of characters (including Salvador Dali, James Jones, the Astors, the Vanderbilts, and European nobility); and tells the doomed Baekelands' story through remarkably candid interviews, private letters, and diaries, not to mention confidential hospital, State Department, and prison documents. A true-crime classic, it exposes the envied lives of the rich and beautiful, and brilliantly illuminates the darkest corners of the American Dream.
