There are 20 family chapters in the book, each one tracing that family back from the point at which someone of that family married into one of the other families. Some of the families have been traced back to the Plantagenet kings of England, and through them, back to the Roman emperor Claudius, who was emperor of Rome at the time of the birth of Christ. The families: Moran, Rice, Gorman, Roberts, Caldwell, Fabian, Van Zandt. Banks, Hornbuckle, Waller, Mahan, Childress, Candler, Brashear, Coats, Anthony, Pole, Sharp, Brantley, and Plantagenet. There is also a 21st chapter providing an alternate descent to the Waller family.