The first episode covers 1850 to 1867. The remarkable story of Confederation; the dawn of the photographic era provides avivid portrait of the people of the new Dominion--railway magnates,socialites, crusaders, fugitives of the Underground Railway and a tide of Irish immigrants. The second episode covers 1867 to 1873. On the heels of Confederation, John A. Macdonald and his powerful ally George-Etienne Cartier look westward for their next conquest but are severely tested. Canada blunders in seeking to take over the west without the consent of its inhabitants, especially the Metis of Red River and their leader, the charismatic Louis Riel. With an audacious promise of atranscontinental railway, the settlers of British Columbia and Prince Edward Island are more willing partners to the new Confederation. By 1873, Canada boasts a Dominion that extends from sea to sea, but secret election funds lead to a scandal, with Macdonald and the Conservatives falling from grace and from power.