"Lincoln" tells about President Abraham Lincoln during January 1865, in his efforts to pass the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in the United States House of Representatives, which would finally ban slavery in the country. Expecting the Civil War to end within a month but concerned that his 1863 Emancipation Proclamation may be rejected by the courts once the war has stopped and the 13th Amendment defeated by the returning slave states. President Lincoln seeks help from his cabinet including the founder of the Republican Party Francis Preston Blair who can help congress vote yes on stopping slavery. As he talks about the Democrats saying no, Lincoln talks to Secretary of State William H. Seward about the problem of Democrats. As Thaddeus Stevens convinces the congress to vote yes on abolishing slavery, Union Army General Ulysses S. Grant received a surrender from Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Later on April 14, 1865, Lincoln has a final meeting with his cabinet and prepares to go to a play with his wife Mary Todd Lincoln. The movie ends when Lincoln's son receives the news that his father died after being shot at Ford's Theater. As the movie ends it shows flashbacks of Lincoln's second inaugural address.