Outlander finally debuted on Starz last night with their first episode, “Sassenach.” In case you missed it, Sassenach is Gaelic for outlander or outsider.

The series kicks off with Claire and Frank Randall going on a second honeymoon to Scotland immediately post World War II. Due to Frank’s posting in intelligence, and Claire’s work as a field nurse, they have not seen each other for more than a few days in the past five years. Each has a new hobby. Frank, who has obtained a post to teach history at Oxford, is an amateur genealogist, and Claire is a budding botanist.

Claire and Frank explore the area and come across a set of standing stones not unlike what is at Stonehenge, but not on such a grand scale. They learn that on Halloween night local women still perform ancient ceremonies there, and they surreptitiously watch the mystical dance and chanting that takes place. This isn’t the only odd happening. Claire has her tea leaves and palm read with highly unusual and contradictory results. Frank sees a highlander in traditional dress watching Claire and realizes it was only a vision, which he attributes to being a ghost.

Claire revisits the standing stones to collect some flowers she had seen the day before, only this time the stones have a life of their own, and she is somehow transported back to Scotland in the 1700s. Claire wakes up not sure what has happened. She sees fighting between Red Coats and highlanders, and at first thinks she has stumbled on a movie set or historical recreation.

Once she realizes that live rounds are being fired, she runs for her life, and stumbles upon a British soldier who she at first thinks is her husband. It’s not Frank, but his ancestor Captain Jack Randall, who has the reputation of being a cruel and merciless local garrison commander. Claire is nearly raped by Jack, but is saved by a highlander who knocks her out to stop her yelling.

Claire awakes and finds herself among the highlanders who have taken refuge in a barn. She pretends to be Claire Beauchamp the wife of an Oxford professor who was attacked on the road on her way to join her husband in Inverness. It is a lie that is nearest the truth. Beauchamp is her maiden name.

Claire asserts herself, and uses her skills as a nurse to fix the dislocated shoulder of one of the men, Jamie. She earns his admiration, but at the same time, the other men are either disdainful at having been bossed around by a woman, or skeptical of her being English and alone in the highlands wearing next to nothing. She becomes their prisoner until they can figure out who she really is and what to do with her.

As they travel on the road together on horseback, Claire sees a familiar rock formation and blurts out information Frank had told her: that British soldiers used to use the area for ambushes. When pressed, Claire says she heard it at the local tavern. The highlanders are able to effectively ward off an attack thanks to Claire’s warning. The men are still doubtful that Claire is who she says she is, but are more trusting since she, a Sassenach, betrayed her own people, the British.

During their next ride, Claire again helps Jamie, who was wounded by a gunshot. It is obvious that they are starting to form a connection. As they approach their destination of Castle Leoch, Claire recognizes it as the castle she and Frank visited together, only now the castle is a fully functioning place where hundreds live and work. When she and Frank visited, it was a ruin. As they approach the gate, Claire wonders what she will have to do to survive, and how to find her way back to the future and Frank.

If you loved Outlander as much as we do, join us each week for our post-show Google Hangout hosted by Hypable and That’s Normal. This week was prerecorded, but next week will be live with the date and time TBA.