Young Eleanor reluctantly cuts short her progressive education in London to make her dreaded societal debut as a member of New York’s prestigious Roosevelt family, which includes her ambitious cousin, Franklin. In Michigan, Young Betty, trapped in an abusive marriage, finds herself pursued by hotshot lawyer Jerry. As she rises the ranks at a Chicago law firm, Young Michelle gets to know an idealistic and politically inclined summer intern named Barack.

Frustrated by the male dominated world of media and politics, Eleanor holds the White House’s first all-female press conference and grows closer to journalist Lorena “Hick” Hickock. Betty’s public announcement of her breast cancer diagnosis shifts opinion of the Ford Administration away from Jerry’s controversial pardon of Nixon and makes Betty a popular figure among American women. After Barack gets clobbered in the midterms, Michelle launches a new healthy school lunch program, which prompts a stalled Congress to enact new legislation.