THE HOT BREATH OF HEAVEN

Ira Swaim, a power-propelled tycoon, who fancies himself a ""molder of destiny"", opens up a new and attractive development, Eden Village, to a few young couples of his choice whose lives he hopes to control. There are the Bergs- and their two children- Pete is something of a woman chaser; the Christies, formerly in show business, a childless couple- and an operation has ruined Joyce's career; and the McLeans, Vern, a seemingly weak young man now finding his authority by cutting himself off from his wife's mother. In very little time, the mixed backgrounds meld- in common interests and activities (the McLeans have their first child; Joyce Christie becomes pregnant- but Berg is the father of the child). However, Swaim loses his autocratic authority and under the leadership of the McLeans, the community turns on its Big Daddy when it discovers that his benevolence is only a more dangerous form of despotism... A lesson learned- at a price: Mrs. Williams is a very ordinary writer and her story, in spite of its elements of exaggeration, remains commonplace.