Your fortune lies to the west. Keep your face to the sunset and follow the evening star, and one day you'll ride the greatest wheel in all the world."" When Aunt Honora reads this fortune in his tea leaves, Conn Kilroy knows he is destined for greater things than his small Irish village can offer. Brought to America by his uncle, Conn is soon lured farther west, where he joins the hardworking crew building what some call Ferri's Folly--the first Ferris wheel, the showpiece of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Conn's journey captures the spirit of the Americna industrial era--the risk and hard labor, and the moments of glory.