Princeton University president Woodrow Wilson (Alexander Knox) leaves his post to run for governor of New Jersey, and soon becomes President of the United States. The turmoil of this era, from the death of his first wife, Ellen (Ruth Nelson), and his remarriage to the glamorous Edith Galt (Geraldine Fitzgerald), to the buildup to and aftermath of World War I, is faithfully dramatized. Wilson's political opponent Henry Cabot Lodge (Cedric Hardwicke) serves as the film's primary villain.