A young Thomas Jefferson from the Virginia wilderness is transformed by the fire of Enlightenment into his country's most articulate voice for human liberty. Torn between serene family life at Monticello and his passion for politics, Jefferson suffers heartrending personal loss, even as he gives voice to a new era of democratic government. He travels to Paris as U.S. minister to France as George Washington supports the rising French Revolution.

Returning from France, Jefferson strives to preserve the new, fragile American government and helps create the first political party. As third party of the United states, he doubles the size of the country through the Louisiana Purchase but faces controversy and scandal, finally retiring to his beloved Monticello. By the end of his remarkable life, he had advanced the cause of religious, political, and intellectual freedom everywhere and changed the course of human events.