Two teenagers–Peter Wood, an academically overachieving loner from 1985, and Charity Payne, a Puritan from 1700 Colonial Massachusetts, come in telepathic contact with each other when they have high fever from the same bacterial infection.

The notion that the Thirteen Colonies will eventually revolt against their government is controversial, and a posse led by Squire Jonas Hacker visits Charity's home to follow up on suspicions she is a witch.

Peter tells Charity to take refuge in a region less beset by panic over witchcraft, but she refuses to leave her home, so he searches library records of witch trials to see if she will be tried if she comes out of hiding.

Peter finds Charity's message: chiseled into Bear Rock are the initials "CP + PW" inside a heart shape.

The producers quickly scheduled a casting call to find a replacement, and Robert Duncan McNeill was offered the role and flown out to Los Angeles within a day of his audition, which had taken place in New York.

[1] Due to the extent of the problems with Bateman, Brennert felt the best solution was to recast the part, even though it was Friday and filming of the Charity scenes was scheduled to begin on Monday.