Divorced, disaffected and more interested in art than a medical career, Sokol finds his hardened senses lit aflame by a mysterious local beauty. Emily's family, European immigrants tumbling into war-time penury, seem eager to auction their daughter to either Sokol or Cartwright, who is Sokol's colleague, nemesis, former brother-in-law and a widely acknowledged horse's ass. Emily clearly prefers Sokol, but an air of gloomy foreboding--and the fact that Sokol is remembering the story from an Emily-less future--indicate dark forces will doom this passion.