An appetite for war begins to spread in the United States. Three decades after the Civil War, many Americans believe that the U.S. should flex her muscles in the world in order to be taken seriously. When a longstanding border dispute between British Guiana and Venezuela re-ignites after the discovery of gold in the region, the U.S. proposes that she mediate the conflict under the moral authority accorded by the Monroe Doctrine. In response, the British refuse to recognize either Venezuelan territorial claims or American arbitration justifications. In the face of this contempt, even the...

Lucy Hayes' outspoken views on alcohol and temperance have caused brewers and distillers to fear her popularity. When the president of the United States gets wind of an assassination plot against his wife, he summons a trusted lieutenant from the Civil War to keep her alive and to catch the plotters. To Mrs. Hayes' vulnerability, however, the new body guard has a weakness for liquor. Can he stay sober long enough to keep her alive and apprehend her assailants?