PROLOGUE: On a scrim, twin photographic images appear: turn of the century men and women, well-off, dignified, all in cream and white. A young boy, called simply The Little Boy, picks up a steropticon, raises it before his eyes, and the two photographic images merge and come to life.

We are on the front lawn of a home in New Rochelle, New York, as The Little Boy, Mother, Father, Mother's Younger Brother, their family and neighbours sing of a new era (Ragtime).

Soon their genteel life is interrupted by Negroes from Harlem, and then by immigrants arriving from Eastern Europe: three distinct cultures that must now live together.

On the dock in New York Harbour, Mother bids farewell to Father as he boards the S.S. Roosevelt bound for the North Pole with Admiral Peary (Goodbye My Love).

At sea, leaving the harbour, Father spots a "rag" ship of immigrants heading to Ellis Island and wonders what these arriving passengers are in for. On the "rag" ship, an immigrant named Tateh and his motherless Little Girl see a flare light up the sky and Father waving, and wonder why anyone would leave this America (Journey On).

On the stage of a vaudeville house in Manhattan, Evelyn Nesbit and a bevy of Chorus Girls perform her act (Crime of the Century), a reenactment of the scandalous murder trial of Evelyn's husband, Harry K. Thaw, accused of shooting her lover, the famous architect Stanford White.

Back in New Rochelle, Mother is planting in her garden when she discovers a newborn Negro boy buried in the earth. Clutching the child to her body she wonders "what kind of woman" would do such a thing. She soon finds out - the police arrive with Sarah, mute, scared, desperate. The police intend to press charges of attempted murder, but Mother intercedes - she will take them both, Sarah and the child, into her home.

On Ellis Island (A Shtetl Iz Amereke), crowds of immigrants, including Tateh and the LittleGirl, arrive, delirious with joy and optimism (Success). On the streets of the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Tateh calls out from his cart to passersby, offering to sell them paper silhouette portraits, with very little success. Months pass. Tateh's desperation increases. A man stops, but instead of buying a silhouette, he asks Tateh to sell him the Little Girl. Enraged, Tateh attacks the man. Full of self doubt, Tateh wonders whether America's golden promise was only a lie. In his disillusionment, he has a vision of Harry Houdini. Tateh is inspired to escape his own confining circumstances. He sells his cart and, with the Little Girl, leaves New York on a trolley. The little money he has will take them as far as Boston.

At the Tempo Club in Harlem, a crowd gathers to listen to the new piano playing style of Coalhouse Walker Jr., a style called ragtime. The Coalhouse they find is a man with a broken heart. Sarah, the woman he loves, has run out on him. But he's determined to change his ways and win her back (The Gettin' Ready Rag).

Once groomed and dressed up, Coalhouse needs only one more thing to lure Sarah. Suddenly, like an apparition, Henry Ford appears along with his assembly line. The auto magnate explains his theory of mass production to Coalhouse (Henry Ford) and the dapper musician drives off in his own Model T.

But the joy of his new acquisition is soon dampened when, on his search for Sarah, Coalhouse stops for directions at the Emerald Isle Firehouse. There Chief Willie Conklin and his burly buddis hurl racist abuse at Coalhouse and envy his fancy car.

In the attic room in Mother's house, Sarah, clutching her child, tries to explain to the baby what inspired her act of desperation (Your Daddy's Son).

Coalhouse finally finds the house in New Rochelle. When Mother informs Sarah of his arrival, Sarah asks that he be sent away. Coalhouse leaves politely, pledging to return each Sunday. Mother is charmed by the musician's romantic longing. On one Sunday, she invites him in for tea, and to play on her old Aeolian piano.

Amidst this, Father arrives home unannounced from the North Pole after a year away. He finds a wife who works, a son who seems all grown up, Sarah and the baby living in the attic, and Coalhouse at the piano. He wonders if he belongs here (New Music).

Attracted by the gorgeous sounds of Coalhouse's music, Sarah finally comes down the stairs and falls into his waiting arms.

On a hill overlooking New Rochelle, Coalhouse polishes his Model T and tells Sarah of new hope he has acquired from the teachings of Booker T. Washington. Together Coalhouse and Sarah sing of the promise for freedom the car represents for their son (Wheels of a Dream).

Tateh has now relocated to Lawrence, Massachusetts, where he works at a loom 64 hours per week for $6 pay. Emma Goldman witnesses the horrid working conditions in Lawrence, then describes them at a union rally in lower Manhattan. Younger Brother shows up at the union hall and finds himself inspired by the anarchist (The Night That Goldman Spoke at Union Square).

Back in Lawrence, the militia is called out to confront the strikers. The frightened workers send their children off to safe foster homnes. As Tateh puts The Little Girl on the train, he is beaten to the ground. He realizes sending his daughter away is a mistake. He takes off, running along the railroad track, towards safety. He takes a final plunge up onto the train into his shaken daughter's arms. Tateh calms her by giving her a flip book of silhouettes he has made, cut outs of the Little Girl ice skating (Gliding). The train conductor notices Tateh demonstrating the flip book and buys it for his own daughter. Tateh realizes he may have designed a valuable product. His life is about to change.

Driving home from their afternoon of leisure, Coalhouse and Sarah are stopped and threatened by the firehouse gang on Emerald Isle. Coalhouse sends Sarah to safety and seeks a policeman to complain to. Upon returning to his car, Coalhouse finds it has been trashed by the firemen. A pile of human excrement has been deposited in the back seat. In a rage, Coalhouse vows that until this wrong is righted, he cannot marry.

Sarah's heart is broken. She will resolve this for Coalhouse so they can carry out their plans. As it happens, the Vice Presidential campaign train is making a whistle stop in town. Sarah attends the rally. She pushes her way through the crowd to try to get to the candidate, thinking he will answer her plea for help. But, with the recent assassination of President McKinley fresh on their minds, the guards fear any citizen and beat Sarah to the ground and to death.

Mourning for the innocent victim begins in Harlem with a funeral procession, then spreads, via newspaper reports, all over the region (Till We Reach That Day).

At the Main Street Theatre in New Rochelle, the world famous illusionist Harry Houdini performs his act of great escape climaxing with an explosion of smoke and fire. The Little Boy wakes up in bed. The Houdini show has been a dream. He yells for his mother. "Something bad is going to happen" he says. "People are going to die."

From the darkness, a broken, ferocious Coalhouse Walker appears. He publicly states his demands: that his car be restored and that Willie Conklin be turned over to him to avenge his Sarah's death (Coalhouse Demands). Until the demands are met, he vows to kill firemen and destroy firehouses. A gang of devoted followers join Coalhouse.

The tragedy reaches the home of Mother and Father. Father is highly critical of Coalhouse's violent tactics. To spend some time alone with his son, Father decides to take the Little Boy to a baseball game between the Giants and the Braves at the Polo Grounds. "It's a civilized pastime," Father assures his son. But the stands and the field are filled with rowdy immigrants (What a Game!), and even Father can no longer ignore how his genteel society is vanishing.

Younger Brother sympathizes with the musician and despises Father's complacency. He storms out of the house and heads for Harlem in search of Coalhouse. He is led to the revolutionary headquarters. Face-to-face with Coalhouse, he has so much to say but finds himself speechless. The young man is driven by the revolutionary spirit of Emma Goldman, who appears at his side (He Wanted to Say).

Mother and Father's home is surrounded by a swarm of reporters. Father is fed up. He blames Mother for the disruption in their lives. Their conflict demands some change. Atlantic City seems to be the answer. There Mother will be safe with the baby, and it is close enough so that Father can visit on weekends (Atlantic City).

On the beach outside the Breakers Hotel in Atlantic City, Father, Mother and the Little Boy see a moving picture play being filmed. The director spots the family, is attracted by Mother's beauty, and introduces himself as the Baron Ashkenazy (Buffalo Nickle Photoplay Inc.).

The storm along the beach draws Mother and the Baron out looking for their children. (Our Children). As the storm fades, the converse and the Baron reveals he is no Baron at all. He is Tateh, a poor immigrant Jew who got lucky in America.

Father approaches Mother on the beach, dressed in his suit and top hat. He reports that Coalhouse and his men have taken over the Morgan Library in Manhattan and have threatened to blow it up. Father feels compelled to go there and volunteer to help negotiate. Once this is over, Father insists to Mother, they can go back to their normal lives. But Mother disagrees (Back to Before).

Outside the Morgan Library, Conklin, under the watchful eye of N.Y. District Attorney Charles S. Whitman, works on restoring Coalhouse's car. But that is not good enough. Coalhouse wants Conklin.

Booker T. Washington enters the library to negotiate. He advises Coalhouse that for the sake of his son, he must give himself up without causing further destruction. Coalhouse secures freedom for his gang and sends them off in the restored car (Make Them Hear You). With his men safe, Coalhouse walks out the library door and to his fate.

EPILOGUE: The Little Boy tells us that the era of Ragtime has run out, like the tune on a player piano. As a montage of character from the entire journey fills the stage, we hear once again the promise of hope for the future (Wheels of a Dream - Reprise).