The real-life Gilded Age was defined by "robber barons" — industrialists like George Russell, whose railroad fortune is mind-boggling, but not socially "old" enough to get him and his family accepted by high society. While supporting his wife Bertha's social ambitions, he also is ruthless in pursuit of his business interests.
When the city elite try to cut him out of a business deal, he crushes them with the might of his own fortune, leaving many dangling by a thread financially (and ruining Mr. Morris to the point that he takes his own life). George also faces down an investigation over a derailment of one of his trains, but that too ends in his favour when a rogue employee is found at fault. George, like his wife, is more successful than ever by the end of the season.