In Quincy, Massachusetts, in August 1814, a nearly 70-year-old Abigail Adams grieves the deaths of four of her six children and the precarious state of the United States. Her husband, John Adams, a former president, arrives by carriage with destructive news: The British have attacked and burned the nation’s capital. He reports that the president’s house, the House and Senate chambers, the Treasury, the war department, the naval yard, and the Library of Congress have all been destroyed. Horrified, Abigail calls the British “[b]arbarians” for their act of “Gothic vandalism” (3). John expresses his despair, believing the American experiment is over, as President Madison has fled into hiding. Facing the potential ruin of everything they fought for, Abigail looks toward the family tomb and considers burying John’s draft of the Declaration of Independence. This moment of crisis prompts her to reflect on her life and the role she played as a “founding mother” in the nation’s creation.

In April 1765, a pregnant 20-year-old Abigail Adams lives on a farm in Braintree, Massachusetts. Annoyed by her mother’s overbearing concern for her health, she insists on walking to market day with her sister, Elizabeth.