In the tempestuous period following World War I, Ohio housewife Eva Dearbourne struggles against a resistant medical establishment to keep her husband, George, from being institutionalized for symptoms of what today are known as bipolar syndrome and PTSD. Her sister, Letha Weaver, entrenched in the suffrage movement as the passage of the 19th Amendment nears, also presses Eva to lock up her husband, and George himself refuses to seek the help he needs.

As George’s post-war nightmare spirals deeper, Eva’s best hope lies with Dr. Gerhardt Sheffler, who opposes institutionalizing patients. But the German-American physician is bitter from the abuses his family suffered under the anti-Hun war hysteria in his adopted country, and refuses to treat any veterans of the war, including George.

Further blocking Eva is Vernelle McDaniel, Sheffler’s intelligent, ambitious nurse, who refuses to take seriously any information that Eva, an uneducated housewife, has painstakingly researched about possible treatments. Sheffler’s bitterness has closed him off personally and professionally; breaking through his wall of broken trust is both the challenge and the reward that Eva must win to save her husband—and which could also save the doctor himself.