In “Change of Heart,” the events unfold on March 28, short­ly before Lin­col­n’s first state din­ner. Gen­er­al Win­field Scot­t’s memo deeply dis­turbs Lin­coln as it presents a grim assess­ment of Fort Sumter’s sit­u­a­tion. Scott empha­sizes that Ander­son­’s posi­tion at Sumter is more unten­able due to Beauregard’s artillery instal­la­tions, pre­dict­ing that a full-scale inva­sion to relieve the fort would require ten months to orga­nize, dur­ing which time Union forces would like­ly suf­fer defeat. He advis­es that evac­u­a­tion of Fort Sumter should hap­pen soon­er rather than lat­er as a ges­ture pro­mot­ing peace.

How­ev­er, Scott esca­lates his rec­om­men­da­tion, assert­ing that mere­ly aban­don­ing Sumter would­n’t suf­fice to main­tain alle­giance from the upper South and bor­der states. He insists that both Sumter and Fort Pick­ens must be evac­u­at­ed to restore con­fi­dence among slave­hold­ing states, fur­ther alarm­ing Lin­coln. The pres­i­dent is tak­en aback by Scott’s polit­i­cal rea­son­ing and the sug­ges­tion that such dras­tic actions were even on the table, leav­ing him in dis­tress as he pre­pares for the upcom­ing din­ner.

Dur­ing the state din­ner, attend­ed by notable guests, includ­ing Mary Lin­coln, the ambiance is live­ly yet Lin­coln remains pre­oc­cu­pied by the con­tents of Scot­t’s memo. Guests, includ­ing William Rus­sell, observe Lin­col­n’s sto­ry­telling as a means of man­ag­ing tense sit­u­a­tions. Rus­sell hopes to uncov­er Lin­col­n’s strate­gies regard­ing the seces­sion cri­sis but leaves the event none the wis­er.

Fol­low­ing the din­ner, Lin­coln pri­vate­ly con­venes his cab­i­net to dis­cuss Scott’s mes­sage. The silence is pal­pa­ble, reflect­ing the grav­i­ty of the sit­u­a­tion until Post­mas­ter Blair breaks it, crit­i­ciz­ing Scot­t’s shift from mil­i­tary to polit­i­cal con­cerns. Lin­coln calls for a for­mal cab­i­net meet­ing the fol­low­ing day to revis­it the resup­ply mis­sion to Fort Sumter.

At the next meet­ing, the cab­i­net’s mem­bers, equipped with new infor­ma­tion on the pro-Union sen­ti­ment in South Car­oli­na, most­ly over­turn their pre­vi­ous stance, now favor­ing resup­ply. Urged by Blair to act swift­ly to pre­vent fur­ther con­flict, Lin­coln ulti­mate­ly autho­rizes two expe­di­tions to resup­ply both Fort Sumter and Fort Pick­ens. How­ev­er, the deci­sion holds the poten­tial for dis­as­ter, as both mis­sions rely on the same war­ship, the side-wheel steam frigate, Powhatan, cre­at­ing a sig­nif­i­cant logis­ti­cal con­flict for his admin­is­tra­tion fac­ing pos­si­ble tur­moil with­in the Union.