Set in the Depression, following the life of a young farm boy who turns from an honest political hopeful to a powerful but corrupt governor.

Will Texas be independent or a U.S. state? Ex-President Andrew Jackson recruits cattleman Devereaux Burke to travel through hostile Indian land, find Texas hero Sam Houston and persuade him to support annexation. In exchange, Burke will gain a contract to sell beef to U.S. forces during the war with Mexico sure to follow statehood.

The black cat: A wealthy but embittered matriarch makes a deathbed recovery only to be murdered by someone in the greedy clan gathered for the reading of her will. When the family learns that nobody receives a penny until the very last of the old lady's multitude of beloved cats perish, both cats and people start turning up dead. Man made monster: A scientist experiments with a carnival performer's immunity to electrical shock and creates a monster...