While researching the scant record of American Revolution-era women, historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich came upon the overlooked diary of Martha Ballard, a midwife who never lost a mother's life in more than 1,000 deliveries. Using the dense diary as source material, Ulrich wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning portrait of Ballard. This documentary tells Ballad's story through reenacted scenes, readings from her diary and interviews with Ulrich.