An aging physician with a chronic illness looks back on a time in his life, after college, when he was deciding what to do next. While trying to convince himself to choose an organized and well-scripted future, he is suddenly confronted with an enticing opportunity to move in an entirely different and more unpredictable direction with a woman. This is followed by the first manifestations of a disease he does not understand. Simultaneously, the research laboratory at which he works becomes enmeshed in scandal. During the course of one summer, all these developments converge into a moment of crisis, leading to a single choice with lifelong consequences.