Set in the spring of 1985 in Corona Cove, California--a fictitious conservative seaside town in southern California--this story follows Loretta Castrini, a high school nurse educator who turns to her network of nurse colleagues for information when a medical emergency strikes the community hospital. The story unfolds through the perspectives of this tight-knit RN group, highlighting the ambitions, greed, and extremist politics that influenced the early days of the AIDS epidemic.