Henry Louis Gates, Jr. maps the family trees of talk show host Sara Haines and playwright Tracy Letts—tracing their roots from frontier towns in the American west to diverse places in the east, telling stories of scoundrels, soldiers, and U.S. Presidents, while also discovering surprising connections to Native Americans communities—revealing the complexity at our nation's core.

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. traces the roots of filmmaker Spike Lee and Broadway superstar Kristin Chenoweth, uncovering ancestors who made bold decisions to lay the groundwork for their success. Moving from the Texas frontier to World War One battlefields to plantations in the old South, Gates introduces his guests to the women and men who used their creativity to build a future for their families.