In the spring of 2000, a space-time anomaly caused by the Assiti, an alien race of "artists", transports the small mining town of Grantville to central Germany in the middle of the Thirty Years' War. Stranded in the past, the town's citizens decide to live in this new universe and to "Start the American Revolution Central Germany 150 years early", in the words of (soon to be) President of the 'New United States' Mike Stearns in 1631 Europe. In "1632", the "Grantvillers" (called "up-timers") first allied with neighboring free towns and cities such as Jena and (fictional) Badenburg to "expand" the 'New United States' systematically as 1631 dragged into 1632, including several early battles to defend allied territory which were pivotal in the rapid growth of the new (radical to 17th century thought) "United States".