This mini series follows the lives of two volunteer nurses on opposing sides of the Civil War - New England abolitionist Mary Phinney and Confederate supporter Emma Green. The Green family's luxury hotel in Alexandria, Va., has been transformed into Mansion House, a Union Army hospital tending to the war's wounded. Inspired by memoirs and letters from real doctors and nurse volunteers at Mansion House Hospital, this new drama reveals the stories of those struggling to save lives while managing their own hardships.

Set in working-class Chicago, the Gallagher family, a working class family of eight, must survive the ups and downs of today's recession. With a mother who is out of her element and an alcoholic father who usually ends up passed out on the living room floor, 18-year-old daughter Fiona is left with the task of keeping her five younger brothers and sisters on the straight and narrow.