Rob Henry and Sarah Singleton are Civil War reenactors swept back to 1861 through the medium of the Civil War photography. They arrive in Washington, D.C., just after the battle of Manassas, when people in the capital are reeling from the shock of Confederate victory. During that time of anxiety and suspicion, herself imprisoned with the Union Army’s head of secret service, Allan Pinkerton arrests Rob and Sarah as enemy spies. Sarah is locked up with the lovely Confederate spy, Rose Greenhow, and Rob is thrown into Old Capitol Prison with other political prisoners. Rob’s younger brother Jamie time-travels to the past to try to rescue them, but finds himself distracted by Thaddeus Lowe, the Union Army’s balloonist. The three young people must sort out whom to trust--and whom not to trust--in the topsy-turvy world of civil war and espionage.