Blackout is a novel by the award-winning author Connie Willis. The story follows a series of historians that are studying history at Oxford University. It's 2060 and these historians get to study history first hand by traveling back in time to the events and time periods they wish to study. The history advisor, Mr. Dunworthy, has to approve each historian's travel because he won't allow them near any dangerous situations, especially after one of the historians is killed while on assignment.

The primary characters of the novel are primarily studying the different aspects of World War II. Eileen studies the evacuees or the children sent from London to the outskirts of England to keep them safe from the war. Michael Davies is studying normal citizens that become heroes in certain situations, such as the civilians during one of the battles during World War II. Polly is studying the shop girls working on Oxford Street during the War and the citizens that take shelter underground in the tube stations during the war.

Everything is fine until an unexpected obstacle prohibits each character to be picked up the lab in Oxford to bring them back from history into the present of 2060. One by one, each of the historians finds themselves stuck in time travel in 1940s England. Each believes that something is wrong with their area of the time travel net and so they each try to find one of the other historians. By the end of the novel, three of the historians are collectively working together to try to figure out how to get from 1940s England back to 2060 Oxford. To find out the conclusion of Blackout, the author invites readers to read her next novel, All Clear.