When General Ulysses Grant returns to his hometown of Georgetown, Ohio just following the end of the Civil War, he gets an unexpected welcome. A stranger lies dead on their hotel bed.

Julia wants to press on with the tour, but Grant is unsure whether this was just a "prank" from the townspeople who would rather not see old "Useless" run for president or a warning tied to Southern sympathies. Along with the help of a local newspaper reporter and a Pinkerton agent assigned to protect Grant, Ulysses goes about trying to learn the truth about the killing, and the subsequent attempts on his own life.