Sara Reed, a twenty-first century college student in Spokane, Washington, hears the train's whistle every day as it passes by her apartment. Sometimes, she thinks the train is actually calling to her. One day, she heeds that call and books a ticket just to ride the train. With no particular destination in mind, she picks Grand Forks, North Dakota as a likely place to turn around and head back to Seattle. Matthew Webster, a turn-of-the-century wealthy financier, boards the train in Seattle for a business trip to Chicago the morning after his marriage proposal to his childhood friend, Emily Williams, is soundly rejected. Emily says she loves him like a brother, but never considered him as a husband. Sara doesn't expect anything exciting to happen on her train ride. She's just trying to assuage her obsession with the train. Matthew doesn't expect anything exciting to happen on his train ride. He's just trying to get through his business trip while nursing a broken heart. Neither one of them is prepared for how their lives will change when Sara awakens in Matthew's compartment on a train in the fall of 1900.