Seventh Avenue tells the story of tenement-born Jay Blackman's rise to become king of Manhattan's garment district at the height of the Great Depression. But Blackman's restlessness and competitiveness tears the seams of his personal life. Among his victims are his wife Rhoda, who manages the dress shop that gives his career its start; Eva, a sophisticated, cynical designer, whose family he eventually destroys; and Terry, a beautiful, bored heiress, who represents all the status Jay dreams of acquiring. Seventh Avenue is a sharply drawn novel that depicts a ruthless young man exploiting every opportunity and person he encounters.

It is impossible to foresee that Bradford's search for the Snowman would terminate in a devastating spectacle. Based on all the sightings and reports Bradford reads about, he hopes to locate a mammal of some kind. From his early student days in anthropology, Bradford theorizes that such a creature could exist in these climatic conditions, even though his colleagues at Harvard scoff at the notion. Only fieldwork, he feels, outside the confines of a university hothouse, could prove his case. He is wrong on all counts.