Founded originally to help Rosewaters avoid paying taxes on the family estate by Eliot's father, a senator in Rosewater County, IN, the Rosewater Foundation is operated by a large legal firm in NY & provides an annual pension of $3,000,000 to Eliot. Eliot had been seen as restless early on trying all the typical things that philanthropists do to help the poor, but he eventually sets out across America, going from small town to town before landing in the city of Rosewater & setting up shop. He calls Rosewater home after becoming a volunteer firefighter in numerous cities across the USA. This fact, with his drunkenness, his generous relationship with the poor in Rosewater & his odd relationship with his French wife make him appear crazy. A conniving lawyer has set out to prove him insane so he can collect a portion of the Rosewater fortune for himself during its transfer to unwitting distant cousins in Rhode Island. The novel is told mostly thru a collection of short stories dealing with Eliot's interactions with the citizens of Rosewater County, usually with the last sentence serving as a punch line. The antagonist's tale, Mushari's, is told in a similar short essay fashion. The stories reveal different hypocrisies of humankind in a darkly humorous fashion.