A group of dedicated government officials fights red tape to finance and support rescue operations. As the Allied soldiers advance, uncovering mass graves and liberating German concentration camps, the public sees for the first time the sheer scale of the Holocaust and begins to reckon with its repercussions.

As World War II began, Americans united in their disapproval of Nazi brutality but divided about whether to act. Some individuals and organizations work tirelessly to help refugees escape. Meanwhile, Charles Lindbergh and isolationists battle with Roosevelt to keep America out of the war. Germany invaded the Soviet Union and secretly began the mass murder of European Jews.

After decades of maintaining open borders, a xenophobic backlash prompts Congress to pass its first laws restricting immigration. Meanwhile, in Germany, Hitler and the Nazis began persecuting Jewish people, causing many to seek refuge in neighboring countries or America. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and other world leaders are concerned by the growing refugee crisis but fail to coordinate a response.