Industry is seen in how each family builds their life up around them due to need, and eventually flourishes. It starts with Pentaquod, a Susquehannock Indian, who settles on a clifftop which is paradise to him. Edmund Steed settles on Devon Island and builds his home, complete with chapel, and founds his great plantation from the ground up with land bought from the Indians. The Steeds eventually own thousands of acres and are extremely wealthy. The Paxmores start with Edward Paxmore, a Quaker carpenter, being banished from Massachusetts and building his house on a cliff overlooking the Choptank. He learns how to build a boat because of necessity and with only help from Indians, and eventually learns how to build an ocean-going sailing ship. His boat-building business becomes highly successful and thrives in the township. The Caters struggle for a long time, until 'Big Jimbo' Cater becomes a cook for an oyster harvesting skipjack sailing vessel. He eventually earns enough money to buy his own skipjack, which he staffs with his family, and becomes a successful captain. The Caveneys, who emigrated from Ireland due to the Great Famine of the 1840s, are easily assimilated into the town, and become central characters in the oyster and duck subplots. As can be seen from each family's success through determination, the message is that they worked hard and attained great things.