Freshly-graduated from medical school, Dr. Susan Anderson sets up a practice in Cripple Creek, Colorado, a rough-and-tumble mining town. At a time when only ten percent of physicians are female, Dr. Anderson faces her share of doubters and has a difficult time attracting patients in the frontier town. When miners suddenly rush into her office with an injured boy, she defies prevailing wisdom and decides to save his mangled arm instead of amputating the limb. The risks are enormous. If the boy's arm becomes infected, and he dies, she will lose everything. Years later, Dr. Anderson relives the story while treating Bat Masterson, legendary gunfighter-turned-newspaperman, who comes down with fever while passing through Cripple Creek.