Briefly departing from her Doctor Fenimore stories, Robin Hathaway brings readers Dr. Jo Banks, a young female doctor practicing in Manhattan. When a young patient dies, Banks blames herself. Unable to cope with the loss, she runs, leaving her lover and driving away from New York without a destination on the highway or in her life. She stops at a motel and that evening is called upon to treat a woman who has suddenly taken ill.

This episode prompts the motel owner to make Jo an offer. Neither he nor the other motel owners can afford to keep a doctor on hand; however, it is often difficult to have one drive over from the nearest city. What they need is a cooperative house doctor - someone who can quickly reach any of the nearby motels. Jo accepts, not knowing that it will involve her in a series of gruesome murders of itinerant farm workers.