When a mother and her newborn infant die from the anesthetic he has administered, Boston anesthesiologist Dr. Jeffrey Rhodes's life turns into a shambles. Within months he has been financially destroyed in a malpractice suit and convicted of second-degree murder, with a prison term likely. Panicked, he flees and, in desperation, turns to Kelly Everson, the widow of an old friend who committed suicide following a similar tragedy. They discover that both incidents--and others as well--may not have been cases of physician error but rather deliberate murders.