A fictionalized account of true events. A student, unnamed in the novel but a direct reference to the author, has been accepted to medical school. He is not from a medical family or any particular affluence. Seeking to reinvent himself he sets out to make new friends, one of whom is a classmate he dates. The relationship is short lived due to tragedy early in school. The shock of her death unmasks a cardiac condition from him, resulting in hospitalization. After being discharged he dedicates himself to schoolwork, helped by his classmates but repressing the trauma. He suffers disillusionment from realizing how medicine is delivered and struggles to choose a career path. At the maximal depth of his struggle and uncertainty of his future, he meets an unorthodox emergency doctor. That doctor teaches him a different way to view patients, his role in medicine and his role in life. As he starts to heal, he meets a patient on a psychiatry rotation. Breaking a strict medical taboo, he immediately falls for her as he begins to discover his true purpose as a future physician.