There is really no "master plan."
There are many people, companies, and organizations working on many different routes for manned spaceflight right now (including me). SpaceX is farthest ahead right now, with the first test of their heavy launch vehicle (flying from the old Shuttle pad) scheduled for next year.
With luck, SpaceX and Boeing will both be flying astronauts to the Space Station in their respective space capsules sometime in 2017.
Next Orion flight will be in 2018, and the first manned flight will be around 2021. They still haven't quite figured out the propulsion system for their launch vehicle.