As the office nurse to prominent doctors Kosta Karadakis and Phillip Fanning, Vicki Crawford came in contact with many of the wealthy and important people in San Francisco’s high society. But if it were not for her Aunt Twila, Vicki would leave her profitable job and return to her first love — hospital-duty nursing.

So far, this was impossible. Twila had taken Vicki in and given her a home when she was orphaned at the age of nine, and it was Twila who had paid her way through nurses’ training. The debt had to be repaid, and Twila was the type of woman who did not hesitate to keep Vicki “in bondage.” What was even worse was that Twila had an investment in a gambling club, and if the social-minded Kosta ever discovered that he was courting someone whose aunt was involved in anything illegal, there would be more to pay than just a debt.

Vicki lived in an apartment in Alameda, across the bay, and when her car stalled on her one day, she met a man named Ron Newcomb — who turned out to be a resident with the county hospital. Their friendship grew, and Vicki kept shifting her interest between Kosta and Ron — until Ron became outspokenly critical of her working for a pair of society doctors whom he viewed with scorn.

Mrs. Dean skillfully blends intrigue and romance in this moving story of a young nurse who finds herself in conflict with her ideals.