Trailblazing pioneers set out to conquer the west, but find the land already claimed. Wagon trains meet hardship on the road to California's gold. The steamboat ushers in a new era of commerce, industry, and unprecedented wealth. In the south, cotton is king but slavery fuels a growing divide. Violence flares across the territories and the election of Lincoln is a harbinger of war.

The Civil War rages. The formidable Confederate army cannot match the Union's mastery of technology; railroads, supply lines and the telegram become new weapons in a modern war. The Transcontinental Railroad unites the nation and transforms the Heartland. Farmers settle the continent; their cattle replace wild buffalo as king of the Plains. The Cowboy becomes a new American icon.