Steven Johnson is a medical intern at a teaching hospital in New Jersey. He gets off to a horrendous start when a crazed preacher attacks Steven and is impaled on a scalpel the intern is holding in his hand at the time of the attack. The man dies. The family initiates a malpractice suit. Steven is placed on probation because of questions regarding his treatment of the preacher two weeks before the attack.His personal life becomes further complicated when a budding romance with a slightly older female attending physician, Dr. Chris Murphy, is threatened by his friendship with Jacqueline Martin, a stunning student nurse from Jamaica, who pursues Steven with graceful determination. A black cloud follows Steven about the hospital. The core drama of the novel erupts when a young postpartum patient, Anna Amin, confides in Steven that her husband has physically abused her. Steven is convinced that Anna and her baby are in imminent danger. He arranges for their immediate transfer to a woman's shelter. Anna's husband, Anwar, an Algerian exchange student, is furious. Anna's private physician is likewise astonished and angered. Anwar, on the advice of his attorney returns to Algeria, invalidating his wife's spousal visa. The INS on pressure from the Algerian Ambassador is compelled to seek Anna's deportation.Anwar lies to Anna's family, telling them she had run off with an American doctor, that she walks the streets without the veil and that she has brought shame on him and her family. Steven is convinced that Anna would be in grave danger if she were forced to return to Algeria. Her child would most certainly be taken from her. Steven, Chris and Jacqueline work frantically to prevent that from happening.