On JFK's inauguration day, Lilian Rogers Park gets together with her old friend Levi Mercer to watch the ceremony on television. Lillian's mother Maggie started working at the White House as a maid in 1909. Her husband Emmett is away more than he is home but living in a one room apartment above an undertakers, she provides a good home to Lillian and her son Emmett Jr. Maggie feels honored just working at the White House and finds a welcoming atmosphere there from Mrs. Jaffrey, the Housekeeper, who lays down the rules - especially that there be no gossiping about the First Family- and the Chief Usher, Ike Hoover. Maggie is an accomplished beautician and is soon fixing Mrs. Taft's hair. Young Lillian has a chance encounter with President Taft and invites her to dine with him. Her son soon has a job at the White as a gardener's helper but Maggie decides to send Lillian to a boarding school. Maggie wears a brace on her leg but is devastated when she is told after an operation that from then on, she will have to use crutches. In 1913, Woodrow Wilson moves into the White House and Alicia gets a job sewing and mending. The first Mrs. Wilson's death casts a pall over the entire household. Emmett Jr. Joins the army and ends up in Europe. After Wilson has a stroke, his wife quietly assumes most of his duties. In 1921, the Hardings move into the White House.
—garykmcd