At Arsenal Penitentiary, Washington, D.C., in May 1865, Maj. Thomas Eckert, under the direction of Col. Lafayette C. Baker of the Union Army and Chief of the National Detective Police, reads a summons for the following prisoners: Samuel Arnold, Dr. Samuel Mudd, Edward Spangler, Michael O’Laughlin, George Atzerodt, Lewis Paine, David Herold, and Mary Surratt. The eight are to be tried before a military commission for conspiracy to kill President Abraham Lincoln. Earlier, in the fall of 1864, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman captures Atlanta, Georgia, from the Confederate Army, and President Lincoln is re-elected. During a celebration in Washington, Lincoln discusses the progress of the war with Secretary Edwin M. Stanton and Col. Baker. Lincoln’s confidante, Ward Lamon, distrusts Baker. Meanwhile, Sen. John Conness meets with actor John Wilkes Booth and offers to sell him government passwords and postal codes. Booth characterizes himself as a Confederate patriot, while Conness admits to having financial needs. Three nights later, Booth and Lewis Paine ambush Lincoln and his two escorts on horseback in an attempt to kidnap the president, but are foiled. The next day, Col. Baker visits Booth at his hotel to deliver intercepted letters from Confederate leaders in Richmond, Virginia. Baker waits for Booth’s answer and Booth gives him money. Later, Secretary Stanton and Col. Baker discuss the problem of the North’s imminent victory and the concessions Lincoln is offering the South. Baker claims that Booth is incapable of completing his plan to kidnap Lincoln and ransom him in exchange for Confederate prisoners. At Stanton’s behest, Baker and Maj. Eckert meet with a group of congressmen, include Sen. Conness, Sen. Zachariah Chandler, and Rep. George Julian. Baker suggests that in order to avoid paying the Confederate states $400 million to release the slaves and allow the states to rejoin the Union as Lincoln plans, the group should implement Booth’s kidnap plan with someone more capable. Elsewhere, Booth realizes he needs more manpower and recruits Samuel Arnold, Edward Spangler, Michael O’Laughlin, George Atzerodt, John Surratt, Edwin Henson, and David Herold. Weeks pass as Booth waits for another opportunity to kidnap President Lincoln. On 14 Feb 1865, at the Old Capitol Prison, Col. Baker interviews a captured Confederate officer, Capt. James William Boyd, who has expressed interest in switching sides. Three days later, in New York City, Baker calls on Thomas Caldwell, an old friend who owns the Chaffey Shipping Company, and confronts him about his involvement with Booth’s plot, but suggests a way out. Meanwhile, Maj. Eckert meets with Booth and Paine and orders them to cease their kidnap plan or they will find themselves floating face down in the Potomac River. At the White House, President Lincoln informs Lamon that he is going to Richmond to discuss peace plans with Generals Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant. Lincoln is also invited to visit a regiment in the field that afternoon, but he asks that one of his cabinet members go in his place. Unaware of the change in plans, Booth forms another ambush party, but aborts when he realizes the approaching carriage does not contain the president. Afterward, his colleagues abandon him. On 9 Apr 1865, Gen. Robert E. Lee of the Confederacy surrenders at Appomattox, Virginia. In an address that night, Lincoln offers the South friendship, not hatred. Afterward, Secretary Stanton expresses his displeasure to the president. Lincoln is disappointed in the crowd’s response as well, but Lamon counsels that they wanted to hear a victory speech. Later, Col. Baker instructs Capt. Boyd that he is to kidnap President Lincoln that week from Ford’s Theatre in Washington. Baker assures Boyd that Lincoln’s guard will be off-duty, the telegraph will unexpectedly fail, and a ship will be waiting to take them to a secure location. On 14 Apr 1865, Booth stops by Ford’s Theatre, where he has performed, to collect his mail and realizes that President Lincoln will be attending that evening’s performance. Meanwhile, the president informs Secretary Stanton that his guard, John Parker, has not reported for duty and he asks if Maj. Eckert might fill in, but Stanton claims that Eckert has other assignments for the evening. Elsewhere, Baker insures that Boyd is prepared to fulfill his duty. In his hotel room, Booth informs Atzerodt and Paine that their only course of action now is to assassinate President Lincoln. Booth will kill the president, Paine will kill Secretary William H. Seward, and Atzerodt will kill Vice President Andrew Johnson. At a bar across the street from the theater, Booth asks Edwin Henson to meet him at midnight. As the President watches the play, Boyd moves into position. Unbeknownst to him, Booth creeps into Lincoln’s box and shoots him from behind. Booth leaps to the stage below, escapes, and bedlam ensues outside the theater. A wounded President Lincoln is carried across the street to Petersen House. Booth meets Henson at the appointed place, but Atzerodt and Paine do not arrive, having failed in their attempts to kill Johnson and Seward. Booth broke his ankle when he jumped, and must now veer from his planned route to seek aid from Dr. Samuel Mudd, a Southern sympathizer. In the morning, Booth shaves his moustache and Henson informs him that the president has died. Booth and Henson flee to the countryside, where they hide for six days. Meanwhile, Col. Baker has arrested 1,000 people to create confusion and allow him time to find Booth. He sends Andrew and Luther Potter, and a Native American tracker down the Potomac River to an area near Port Tobacco, Maryland, where he suspects Booth to be hiding. Two days after the shooting, Col. Everton Conger informs Baker that David Herold has been captured. Baker orders Capt. Boyd to take Herold and locate Booth or face returning to prison. The other conspirators are soon captured and Booth and Henson cross the Potomac and head south. Joining the Potter brothers, Capt. Boyd advises Herold not to trust Baker and suggests they escape that night. Aided by several Confederate soldiers who suspect Booth’s identity, the actor and Henson arrive in Port Royal, Virginia. Back in Washington, Stanton summons Conness because they have located Booth’s diary and it contains incriminating evidence. Col. Baker assigns Lt. Edward P. Doherty and his unit to capture Booth. Later, Doherty believes he and his men have located Booth in the barn of a farmhouse in Port Royal. He refuses to surrender and they burn the barn. When the man leaves the barn, he is shot. However, the next day, the Potter brothers arrive and identify the body as that of Capt. Boyd, who had fled with David Herold. In Washington, Baker schemes to pass off Boyd as Booth and bribes are issued to those involved. The trial of the eight conspirators ensues and the government presents paid witnesses who commit perjury. Key evidence, including Booth's diary, is suppressed. The defendants are not allowed to testify, and all are found guilty. Mary Surratt, Paine, Atzerodt, and Herold are hanged; the others receive life sentences. In 1868, Booth’s diary emerges with 18 pages missing, but Stanton and Conness impede a congressional investigation. Later, Stanton and Baker become enemies for unknown reasons. Baker is allegedly poisoned in 1868 and Stanton is appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but dies the next year. Following the death of Boyd, the Potter brothers pursue Booth to Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and New York City, where he disappears amid speculation that he escaped to Canada, England, and then India.