SOONER THAN GOLD is based loosely on the true story of Eliza Alicia Lynch who, in 1848, at the age of 13, fled Ireland to escape the Great Famine, who at 18 was the highest-paid and most sought-after courtesan in all of Paris, who, as mistress of the dictator, Francisco Solano López, became Regent of Paraguay and the richest woman in the world. Together with López, she involved that country in a bloody war, the result of which was total disaster.