A fire during her high school graduation brings Kathy romance with a young fireman named Steve and worry that her own brother might be the firebug; later, her father's serious accident interrupts Kathy's first year of training at San Tomás Hospital.

Kathy tries to assist a hit-run accident victim and her family cope with their severe financial problems by tracing a lost deed, but her frustrations over the limitations on her ability to help lead her to consider abandoning a career in nursing.

"No!" Tobuk cried, and tried to wrench his arms loose. Horrified Kathy watched as a man she believed in was carried away for an act beyond understanding. Her knees turned to water. She had wanted the law brought down on the culprit-but she didn't want it to be Tobuk! What she did want was a mystery to Kathy herself. She needed peace, and wanted justice. But what peace was there in a primitive hospital crowded with patients who spoke different languages? What peace was there in the confusing emotions she felt about Tobuk, about Josh Aikens...about her own Steve? And what justice could there possibly be when Tobuk stood accused of a crime Kathy knew he couldn't have committed?

Back home from Alaska and facing problems in renewing her relationship with her boyfriend, Kathy takes on private duty cases and helps out during a Christmastime flood and epidemic that threaten her hometown.

Kathy joins the crew of a sailing ship embarked for an uncharted South Sea island; she investigates the disappearance of a valuable seashell and the learns the true story of a mysterious Frenchman living among the islanders.

In San Francisco, Kathy works with a demanding research doctor who is trying to develop a mechanical heart despite funding problems.

Assigned to a remote village in Liberia, Kathy struggles to improve health conditions, and learns that outside forces have their own reasons for encouraging native superstitions.