Draws on new research to offer insight into the inventor's private life, as well as his passionate drive for new innovations, discussing the influence of his speech therapist father and deaf mother on his work, his tempestuous relationship with his wife, and his avoidance of fame and fortune.

Circuits and connections, 1847-1876 -- The great white plague, 1847-1870 -- The backwoods of Canada, 1870 -- Boston bound, 1871-1874 -- A Brahmin childhood, 1857-1873 -- Good vibrations, 1873-1875 -- The fateful "twang," 1875 -- Nantucket passion, 1875 -- Patent no. 174,465, 1875-1876 -- The struggle for balance 1876-1889 -- Ring for the future, 1876-1877 -- London life, 1877-1878 -- Litigation battles, 1878-1880 -- Sad losses, failed hopes, 1880-1885 -- Atlantic adventures, 1885-1889 -- A shifting balance, 1887-1889 -- Helen Keller and the politics of deafness, 1886-1890 -- Monster kites and flying machines, 1889-1923 -- Escape to Cape Breton, 1889-1895 -- Monster kites, 1895-1900 -- Family remains, 1900-1906 -- Bell's boys, 1906-1909 -- The auld chief, 1909-1915 -- The last hurrah, 1915-1923 -- The legacies of Alexander Graham Bell.