Since Mollie's death, Edwin has been seeing and hearing her. With Adam's help, he arranges a seance to try to contact her.

McClellan invades Virginia, up the peninsula between the York and James Rivers. The Yankees win the battles; still McClellan retreats, believing the Rebels too strong.

Wilkes returns to smuggling contraband. Edwin returns to the stage, afraid he will not be well received - but he is a sensation. He is so relieved that he finds himself for the first time able to talk to strangers. He attends New York's premier salons and soirees, and starts drinking again.

When Wilkes arrives in New York, he finds Edwin a drunkard. Wilkes brings word from Boston that Mollie is ill. But he believes she will recover, so Edwin ignores the news, as well as telegrams from Boston which say that Mollie has taken a turn for the worse and may not last the night - until a theater manager forces him to read them. Frantic, he catches a train for Boston. But it's too late.

Following Adam's advice, Ned and Mollie go to Europe. But since Mollie is four months pregnant, they go to England, where they trust the doctors, rather than France or Italy. Ned searches the places where his father hsd been, but finds little trace of him. Mollie weakens as the baby grows, and has to take to bed. Ned takes an acting engagement in London, but the British are hostile, since the U.S. Navy has boarded a British ship and taken off two Southern rebels who were heading to England to convince the Queen to support the Confederacy. Mollie gives birth to Edwina. They take a brief tour of France, then return to America. Mollie is too delicate to return to New York, so they take a house in Dorchester, outside Boston. Ned is there when Wilkes plays Boston, with great success, turning staid Brahmin women into romantic fools.

Wilkes triumphs in New York. He and Maggie go to Pfaff's Cafe to wait for the reviews.

New York City considers seceding, since its economic fortunes are tied to the South. But the Union buildup brings new money into the city, and New York decides to stay in the fold.

Adam enlists in the Union Army, as an aide to General Grant. His last advice to Ned: go to Europe and study

There is no fighting going on, so Wilkes goes back to the stage. In Cincinnati, Maggie Mitchell offers to arrange an appearance for him in New York. Wilkes is afraid of that, since, to him, New York is Ned's city. But in Chicago he meets Raufer, a scenery man, who introduces him to magical new staging and lighting techniques - and Wilkes realizes that, with these, he can conquer New York.

Wilkes looks up a school friend, Michael O'Laughlen. He asks O'Laughlen to hook him up with Rebels in Maryland. O'Laughlen tells him that the attempt on Lincoln's life has failed and that Maryland is under Federal martial law and is not going to secede. Then he introduces Wilkes to shoemaker Christian Emmerich and Marshal George Kane. Kane is defecting to the South. At Kane's request, Wilkes agrees, rather than join a fighting unit, to stay in the North and help in the smuggling of contraband such as medicines across the lines to the South. Atfer Bull Run, Emmerich sends Wilkes to Philadelphia to pick up a package. Wilkes stays with Asia and tells her what he's doing. She is thrilled.

The family gathers at Asia's for Christmas in Philadelphia. Asia is rabid against Abraham Lincoln; she tells the others what she has heard: that Lincoln will be murdered in Baltimore on his way to Washington. Wilkes announces he is going to join the Maryland militia after the state secedes. Mother makes him swear he won't.

While Wilkes performs in Rochester and Albany, New York, South Carolina secedes and assaults Fort Sumter. Wilkes returns to Maryland to join the Rebel army.

Desperately missing Mollie, Ned goes back on the booze. Adam Badeau gets Wilkes to intervene with Mollie, who quits Cushman's troop immediately and rushes back to New York. Ned asks her to marry him. She says "yes." After the wedding, Wilkes and other wedding guests stay on for a bit; Ned and Mollie take them down Broadway, giving them a guided tour. Ned introduces Wilkes to Matthew Canning, a Philadelphia lawyer and actor's agent, and Wilkes and Canning reach a representation agreement.

Wilkes plays Columbus, Georgia; Canning meets him there and accidentally shoots him in the leg. In Montgomery, Maggie Mitchell takes Wilkes to hear the Prince of Fire-eaters on the night before the Presidential election.

Asia objects violently to Ned's marriage to Mary. Out of respect for his family, Ned gives her up. Before he leaves Richmond, he gives Wilkes the lead role in Othello, and Wilkes makes his first appearance in his own name.

During Wilkes' second season in Richmond, John Brown raids Harper's Ferry, hoping to set off a slave insurrection, and panicking the South. Brown is quickly captured, but Southerners who want secession use Brown as an excuse.

Wilkes meets Ned in Boston, which is hysterical over Brown, and performs Richard the Third with him. Wilkes finds the town too staid. At a gathering after the theater, Adam Badeau (Ned's New York teacher and confidante) tells Ned he has heard that Mary is in Boston, acting in Charlotte Cushmans company, and is going to marry a Boston lawyer. Ned is devastated.

Back in Richmond, Wilkes joins the Richmond Grays and travels to Charlestown to watch the hanging of John Brown, then returns to begin his role as a national star.

Ned comes to Richmond to star at the Old Marshall, and falls in love with an actress named Mary Devlin. Wilkes can't understand why Ned would want to marry when he could have any woman he wants. Ned reveals his awful past, and that Mary is his salvation.