It is the 14th of April 1865. Good Friday, a foggy evening in Washington, D.C.

At Ford's Theatre, a party of two men and two women take up their seats in a flag- draped box.

They've come to watch a frothy comedy called Our American Cousin that's been getting rave reviews.

The play has already started, but as one of the group takes his seat,

a bearded man dressed in a long silk-lined woolen coat at the top hat,

the action stops for a moment.

But it's not a surly admonishment of his tightness.

Instead, the crowd erupts into applause for the late comer.

Just five days ago, General Lee, a Confederate leader in the American Civil War,

surrendered at the Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia,

effectively bringing the curtain down on four years of conflict.

And here, sitting among his people, is the man of the hour.

Towering more than seven feet tall in his top hat,

the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln.

He graciously acknowledges the evasion.

Then he sits down next to the first lady, Mary,

and behind his guests, his old friend, the diplomat and military captain Henry Rathbone,

and Rathbone's fiancé Clara Harris.

But when the show begins again, Lincoln struggles to tune in.

His mind is whirling, with the many problems his administration still faces.

When you've got a country to rebuild, it's difficult to relax.

Slipping her hand into his, Mary leans in to explain the plot he's missed.

...