Captain Ashley Patterson is a 36 year old black woman, the Commanding Officer of a nuclear guided missile cruiser. While steaming toward Charleston, South Carolina in April 2013, the ship encounters a time warp or wormhole. Suddenly, Captain Patterson and her 930 crew members find themselves in the year 1861, two days before the start of the Civil War. They were to participate in a ceremony to commemorate the 152nd anniversary of the Battle of Fort Sumter. Abraham Lincoln wants to win the war, and he sees this ship as a key to victory. But Captain Patterson and her crew want to return home to the 21st Century. For them, the Civil War was history. Now, they find that it has only just begun. Does she risk mutiny, or commit treason