Thomas Jefferson and James Madison are leading the nation from an incipient aristocracy toward a modern democracy in what Jefferson would call the Second Revolution. But with the death of George Washington comes the two party system and struggles for which the young nation is ill prepared. First comes an internal coup attempt and then the threat of Napoleon's army landing in New Orleans which leads ultimately to the triumphant Louisiana Purchase and the emergence of America as a continental nation. All this as the greatest minds and visionaries of young America lay the foundation for the America we know today.