The Carpetbaggers is divided into nine books. The odd-numbered books are narrated in the first person by Jonas Cord. Each of the even-numbered books is a third-person narration focusing on a person whose life Cord changes: Nevada Smith, Rina Marlowe, David Woolf, and Jennie Denton. Book Two tells "The Story of Nevada Smith" with so much detail concerning this character's early life that it is virtually a self-contained novel.