Philip Fontaine, 65, was born in Rowan County, Kentucky. His father, Harris, did various odd jobs while simultaneously running one or more extralegal schemes that accounted for the bulk of his income. Philip's mother, Bess, raised the family and occasionally took in wash or seamstress work to earn some extra money.
Philip grew up intelligent but short-tempered, and brimming with his father's ambition for social climbing. Also like his father, Philip didn't mind bending the rules a little to make a dollar. He often accompanied his father on moonshine runs up into the mountains, and he soon started his own card games for high school boys.
Although Harris and his son shared many personality traits, only Philip had a stomach for violence. Harris Fontaine was known to bend the law, but people still thought of him as a good man. Philip, on the other hand, quickly developed a reputation as a man who played by his own rules that you shouldn't break.
After graduating from high school, Philip began working on horse farms near Lexington. He worked his way up through the ranks on the farms, and by his late 20s, Philip was managing Grunwald Farm, a well-respected horse farm with a long history of excellence.
During his heady ride as manager of Grunwald Farm, Philip married his first trophy wife. Rebecca Ford was a debutante from a wealthy local family and became the first in a string of doomed marriages.
Philip's willingness to do whatever was needed to get out of a bind made him indispensable to the farm's owner. One morning, Grunwald Farm's top stud was found dead in his stall. Speculation swirled in the thoroughbred capital, but nothing could be proven. The insurance policy paid out several million dollars, but somehow the numerous creditors received only pennies on the dollar, while Philip and the owner seemed flush with cash.
Philip spent the next several years moving around the South, building his fortune by working in real estate. His marriage to Rebecca came and went, as did his marriage to Serena Howell, along with sizable alimony payments to both exes.
By the time he was 40, Philip had settled in Oxford, Mississippi. He found that the relative affluence of the town, combined with Mississippi's overall economic depression, made it an ideal place for real estate development. Some people claim Philip wasn't above cutting corners or allegedly threatening or bribing an inspector or official when it suited his purposes.
His aggressive pursuit of success created some very determined enemies. Chief among those enemies was Bruno Coleman, who never misses a chance to tell people how Philip wronged him in a real estate deal and how he'd ruin Philip one day.
In addition to attracting Bruno Coleman's ire, Philip managed to earn a couple of allies, like Joey Beecher, who he hired to do some odd jobs. Joey became Philip's right-hand man, doing everything from overseeing work at Philip's home to allegedly burning out homeowners reluctant to sell.
Philip married his third wife, Ashley, a woman in her late 20s. She moved into Philip's colossal home and tried to help his son Grant, who was constantly in trouble because of his drug use.
By last year, Philip's marriage to Ashley had soured, and he had taken up with a lover in town. Most of his time at this point was devoted to a new development deal and to keeping Grant out of jail.