They were short of doctors in Springdale and Doctor Lou Case of Springdale wanted the Mayor to persuade James Elliot to come back in to practice.

James Elliot was one of the most brilliant surgeons in the whole country but he performed an operation without permission and the patient died. The boy had been in a bad accident and his parents were inaccessible. There was one chance that an operation might save him and James Elliot took that chance but the boy died and certainly would have died without the operation. The press made bad of the situation and James Elliot gave up surgery. Now the Mayor tries to persuade James Elliot of his value to the people of Springdale.