Will Cheney be content in the glittering lights of high society? Cheney Duvall's attempt to help the mountain folks in the primitive wilderness of the Ozark Mountains had proven to be an extremely difficult experience for both her and her nurse, Shiloh Iron. When they return to her home in New York, Cheney determines to go into a private practice with the handsome Devlin Buchanan, a highly successful physician who had previously asked her to marry him. His sponsorship offered her an excellent chance for success among the most wealthy and refined residents of New York. But dark rumors of plague had reached New York well in advance of the arrival of the ship that was bringing Devlin Buchanan back from London. A cholera outbreak in London had been reported in the early spring of 1866, and the deadly pestilence was now transported on the steamship Virginia. Despite holding the ship in quarantine, New Yorkers knew it was only a matter of time before the disease would spread. Polite society with its elite circles, glittering stores, finest of clothing, elegant carriages, and lush carpet is a far different world than Cheney has known. And while it's gratifying to brush elbows with the Rockefellers and Vanderbilts, her past work has left its mark deep in her soul. Can Cheney be content in a world of high society and pomp, or will the call of the poor and the horrors of the epidemic draw her back? -- from back cover.