Private duty in Marlin Point, Florida, was the last thing Cass Meredith wanted. The month-long assignment had been handed to her by Dr. Wellton, her friend as well as her boss, and he certainly expected her to accept it. The case itself was not what distressed the pretty twenty-two-year-old nurse. The patient was a young girl of fifteen who had epilepsy — certainly a condition with which Cass could sympathize. Cass, too, was an epileptic, and only because she had understanding parents was she able to live a full and normal life.

That life had, until recently, included a lanky young man named Tab Lyon. Handsome, devilish Tab wanted to marry Cass, but she had shied away from such a commitment. She had even suggested a trial separation that had led to his taking a job far from her Miami home — in Marlin Point!

Suffering from inner turmoil, Cass arrived in Marlin Point to discover that her assignment was more a bed of thorns than of roses. The patient, Sue Evans, was a sweet girl whom Cass instantly liked. But Sue’s fearfully overprotective mother had kept her a virtual recluse for years, and she made no attempt to conceal her resentment of Cass. So it was little wonder that Cass found herself leaning on the strong, comforting arm of Mrs. Evan’s’ brother, Max Quigley, a physical therapist who was in complete accord with Cass’s hopes to help Sue lead a free and happy life.

And then Sue experienced a frightening seizure…