Dr. Richard Bates has devoted his life to making other people feel better and curing other peoples diseases. Now he finds himself fighting for his own life. Needing an additional doctor for his growing internal medicine practice, he contracts with a “head-hunter,” who in his zest for a sale "fails" to perform an adequate background check. Dr. Vera Mortina, Richard's new partner, soon appears, accompanied by acrimony, odd and disturbing idiosyncratic behaviors, and the unexpected deaths of several patients and staff. The closer Richard looks into Vera, with her violent thoughts and bizarre hobbies, the more imperiled his own life becomes. Will the doctor become the patient? Will Richard survive?