The show stars Caitriona Balfe as Claire Randall, a married World War II nurse in 1945 who finds herself transported back to Scotland in 1743, where she met the dashing Highland warrior Jamie Fraser, whom she married later on. They also become embroiled in the Jacobite risings.
Claire got transposed to 1700 Scotland while she and her husband Frank were visiting the Inverness and exploring the standing stones at Craigh na Dun. When she was transposed through time, she was right in the middle of a skirmish between the Redcoats and the rebel Scottish Highlanders.
She was eventually rescued by Jamie Fraser of the Highlanders from the Redcoat Captain Jonathan ‘Black Jack’ Randall, who happens to be a dead-ringer for her husband Frank but more sinister. She learned later on that Randall is Frank’s ancestor.
Her nursing skills made her a healer at Castle Leoch, but she is a veritable prisoner of Clan MacKenzie and she cannot travel to the stones to try to work her return back to 1945.
Eventually, Claire and Jamie got closer to one another and she came to understand that the Scotsmen are covertly collecting funds for the Jacobite army. Knowing from history that the Scotsmen cause is destined to fail and many Highlanders will die, Claire tries to warn them off and work on altering history.