It is the morning of July 1, 1938, and New York City is just beginning to stir. For Emmy Evald it is a day of reckoning.

Born the daughter of a pioneer pastor, Emmy lives in Chicago and grows up to become one of the most influential Swedish-American women of her day. She is a suffragist alongside Susan B. Anthony, a religious leader, and social activist, who overcomes the Great Depression, a Chinese civil war, and the women who seek to oppose her.