When the Lincolns arrive in Washington in 1861, the country is breaking apart. The country's president-elect is unknown, untested and mistrusted. His wife, the daughter of a Southern slave owner, is suspected of being a Confederate sympathizer. As Abraham leads a confused and frightened people through the most terrible conflict in their history, disaster strikes his own home: Willie Lincoln - the child Mary says will be "the hope and stay" of her old age - dies.