When in Rome

Twelve strangers are whisked away from their twenty-first century lives and deposited into history itself, with no explanation or direction. Despite their efforts to stay hidden, the time travelers are exposed one by one, and forced into important roles in the politics and culture of their new homes. Some struggle to keep their heads down and avoid changing history - others take the past by storm, using every scrap of foreknowledge to bend the future to their will. Still others question the physical reality of their situation, wondering if it was more than a temporal fluke that sent them here - and wondering where, exactly, "here" is.

46 B.C. Rome. As Julius Caesar returns triumphant to claim his place as dictator for life, an English teacher finds himself working for an aging senator, revealing to him the secrets of the mystical Americas. An unsuccessful historian whose specialty doesn't quite fit the period finds himself reverting to his old criminal self as he is employed by a Roman street gang, whose sworn mission is collecting protection money - and finding a way to end the life of one Julius Caesar.

1775 Boston. The American Revolution has begun, though the soon-to-be Founding Fathers are hesitant to declare independence. Trapped within a city occupied by one army and besieged by another, a teenager from the ghetto disguises herself as a boy and finds a job at a Patriot newspaper - which happens to employ her amnesiac brother, who believes himself to be the formerly-fictional Johnny Tremain. The man posing as her brother, a former pickpocket and computer programmer mourning the sudden loss of his wife, relies on his expertise to question the reality of their situation, while being dragged into the shadowy world of revolution.

1977 New York City. A long-forgotten travel ban has been imposed upon Greenwich Village, the mayor's solution to the recent civil rights protests and counter-attacks by a growing army of neo-Nazis. A modern New York musician discovers that not all music of the time was to his liking - and not all art can be separated from the spirit of revolution. A science fiction enthusiast who longs for a utopian future is haunted by mysterious dreams and discovers that the only path to her fantasies may be in siding with her new friends: a gang of rebellious college students hoping to break through the barricades as they formulate the opening chords of punk rock history.