Paula, an inspector for the Historic Trust, wraps up a successful and important project in the upper Midwest. On her way home to Chicago, she gets a call from her office and is asked to check out a new applicant. It's on her way anyway, and even though it's late on Friday, she takes a quick detour and heads to the site of once proud steamship along an industrial waterfront. Moments after her arrival, her car is seriously disabled and her life is about to change forever. Making the best of a bad situation, she takes up on the offer to spend the night in one of the cramped but historic staterooms.