When twenty-one-year-old Betty Runyen becomes the first nurse at a small hospital in the Mojave Desert of 1933, she has no idea that her life is about to change in ways she can never imagine. The skinny red-headed doctor who welcomes her will become the love of her life, but his love is a prize that proves difficult to win. Her habitual distrust is a stumbling block in her romance with Dr. Sid Garfield, as the young couple struggles with anti-Semitic sentiments in the buildup to World War II. Meanwhile, the local construction workers unleash a string of humorous adventures on Betty, even smoke bombing her new car. Despite everything, she always manages to have the last laugh.