Mobster Ma Webster rules her clan with an iron hand, taking charge of all their robberies despite the protests of George Frost, the only member of her gang who is not her son. On Christmas Eve, Ma, George and her sons Eddie, Charlie and Tom, rob the Centre City bank, but are warned to get out of town by her other son Bert, who disdains their criminal activity and is studying to be a lawyer. Ma and the gang go on a crime spree across the states, receiving $300,000 in ransom for kidnapping, and additional cash from various robberies.
Louise Randall is an independent woman whose "glass is half full" mentality was passed onto her from her father. Louise hopes that those around her, especially her children, have that same ethic of life. Louise learns that if she is ever to find true love in her life, she will have to have a special man who has the same outlook, and that she can't mold others to that mentality. She finds such a man in the form of Harold Pierson, her second husband who most see as being unreliable and non-driven. But together, Louise and Harold and their children try one business venture after another, some with success, some without. World events such as World War I, the Great Depression and World War II affect what happens to the family and their ventures.
A wife suspecting infidelity starts divorce proceedings, so the husband pretends to be insane in order to delay the divorce and clear up the misunderstanding.
