When Eve Barkwell decided to accept Lois Hill's challenge to battle, in which the first skirmish was to be a "scrappy-cat" race on the waters of Maryland's Eastern Shore, the citizens of Sather called her a foolish girl who had a tiger by the tail. For Eve was an easygoing watchmaker in her father's jewelry store, while Lois' father owned a national drug firm and the Hills were the first summer family of Sather.

Yet Eve had certain advantages: a reputation for honest work, a reputation for being the first to give anyone a helping hand in an emergency, a reputation for courage and kindness.

Therefore the all-out war, of which the sailing contest was only a symbol and a precursor, promised to be dramatic and prolonged, with very high stakes.