The handsome young giant, his head swathed in bandages, was an enigma to the entire staff at County Hospital. With nine thousand dollars in his billfold — and quite the handsomest patient County had had in many a day — they decided that he must be a member of the entertainment world. Not a movie actor — or a night club performer — because most of the nurse would have recognized him; but someone important.

And then when all the nurses had worked themselves up to fever pitch about this stranger who since his admission had seemingly been dead to the world, the patient decided to come back to consciousness. And all their conjectures were blown sky-high. The man who looked so much like a Greek god was a well-known Florida playboy, Tony Cavanaugh, the son of wealthy Anthony Cavanaugh, owner of a chain of hotels.

It was a foregone conclusion that Tony, susceptible to all feminine charms, would fall for his blue-eyed nurse, Ann Cubbedge. But no one — and least of all Ann’s four apartment mates — would have dreamed that Ann would reciprocate. That Ann would even promise to marry Tony.

Their marriage rested on one condition — Tony must start doing something useful in the world. And Tony, who had expressed interest in archeology — and who loved the young nurse enough to change the pattern of his life — decided to go back to school and train for the job he wanted to do.

If Ann, at her parents’ home getting ready for her wedding, hadn’t been listening to the radio that night, the shock of hearing about Tony’s latest escapade might not have been so great…although it would have been devastating under any condition.

Still unable to believe her ears, Ann received a call to come back to work. And knowing that work was the thing she needed most, Ann accepted the assignment.

But how was Ann to know that the lanky, red-haired young man who brought her coffee and a sandwich, when she was unable to get them on the crowded train — and to whom she poured out her whole story of disillusionment — was at that very moment on his way to become the new resident at County Hospital?

From jet set to hospital, Susan worked to rebuild her shattered life.

The heart knows.

Love betrayed Susan Merrill, socialite. Jilted by a fortune hunter, she turned to nursing in hope that hard work would fill the void in her heart and replace her broken dreams.

But love was something she still had a lot to learn about. True love means dedication as well as romance. A new world, new experiences, and a new and deeper kind of love waited for Susan as she crossed the threshold from her luxurious but shallow life to one of noble purpose in serving others.

Marian Rutledge brought love and happiness to others — but could not find either for herself.

Diagnosis: Loneliness
Prescription: Love

As simple as that, Nurse Marian Rutledge prescribed for the people of Bridgetown.

There was Marian’s brother Clive, who frequently thought that something — or someone — was missing from his life.

And Alberta Thwaits, who withdrew into one small corner of a dusty, rundown mansion.

Or Olive Cressett, a timid spinster, whose domineering mother constantly “protected” her from unhappiness — and men.

For these, Nurse Marian could make quick diagnoses — and find just the right cures.

But for herself, she was as helpless as any other woman in love.

Young blonde Iris Grant had often gazed at the gleam of steel and glass across the park from her apartment, but she never dreamed that she would someday work in the Morris Building. She was quite satisfied with her job as head nurse at Huntsford General Hospital and had a growing fondness for Dr. Harry Marsh, a handsome, gray-eyed young surgeon. Only after she had been unjustly passed over for a promotion at the hospital does Iris accept the offer of an ex-patient — the millionaire James Morris — to become resident nurse of his new skyscraper.

Iris finds her new work quite different from that in the hospital as she treats various tenants of the building, including a young diabetic teller who goes into shock and the wealthy financier Parrish Crown, who has his own reasons for not consulting a doctor. Her friendship with James Morris’s son, George, deepens as she encourages him to return to architecture, the profession that he really loves, rather than continue to work for his father in a job he dislikes but is reluctant to leave. At the same time she feels that she is falling in love with Harry, but is not free to let him know until his divorce from his estranged wife is finalized.

Iris is confident that she will work out her feelings about Harry and George with time, little expecting that she will do so only when the greatest possible disaster strikes the Morris Building and she herself is faced with death.

Cathy’s carefree cruise is turned into a tour of duty — complicated by too many beaux.

When her aunt, the ship’s senior nurse, breaks her ankle, Cathy volunteers for duty.

There seems to be more than the usual shipboard intrigue —

The ship’s doctor drinks tea, secretly laced with rum, to forget painful memories.

His young assistant yearns to leave the ship to start his own practice.

A stowaway — on a last fling before settling down to responsibility — is discovered.

A raucous Texas dowager drinks too much and her gigolo-husband has a roving eye.

Cathy herself is faced with an oversupply of admirers.

An innocent flirtation and sudden tragedy make Cathy realize the depth of her dedication to nursing — and where her heart is.