Maximilian is still trying to use his borrowed time machine to get to a meeting between Farmer Tanner and a developer, but instead he finds himself watching President Abraham Lincoln deliver the Gettysburg Address in November 1863.

Maximilian finds himself in a wagon traveling west with a prairie dog named Madeline, and witnessing the driving of the "golden spike" and the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869--and incidentally preventing a pair of thieves from making off with a nice couple's wagon and supplies.

Maximilian lands on a ship of Irish immigrants bound for Ellis Island, where he meets a young girl named Ashling who tells her family's story and smuggles him through immigration, as well as a friendly pelican that takes him on a flight around New York Harbor in search of his damaged time machine.