Dr Eli Watt a widower comes to a small town considering himself a failure in his attempt to have a meaningful career in New York He raises his son Jimmy as well as Letty a baby whose mother has died in childbirth and whose father blames Watt and abandons the child Watt dreams of returning to do research studies but always something gets in the way an epidemic his childrens needs or the needs of his generally ungrateful patients Only with the passing years does he come to find that his future isnt over and his past isnt quite the failure he believed