Like most young physicians, Landon Ratliff is idealistic and dedicated to learning his craft; like most young physicians, his choice of specialty is based on little more than a hunch. Hoping to impress the directors of training programs in his chosen specialty, Landon travels to New Orleans to present his research at a surgical convention. Caught between the pull of St. Charles Avenue and Frenchmen Street, by the lure of Maison d'Jardins and Lafayette Passe Partout, by the promise of a lucrative private practice and the realities of safety net medicine, Landon is forced to confront his past and his future by a homeless alcoholic, a Tarot card reader, a zydeco band, and the doctors, nurses, and patients of Charity Hospital, and is reborn - baptized in the holy water of the streets of the French Quarter.