Alan Gregory is called to the ICU before anyone knows the
patient's name or what dark demons drove her to attempt
suicide. But fifteen-year-old Merritt Strait is no
ordinary depressed teenager. The daughter of a hard-
charging investigative reporter and a psychologist, she is
also the stepsister of a little girl at the heart of a
medical tragedy in the making. While Merritt clings to
life in her hospital room, Chaney Strait lies near death
in another hospital with an infection that is slowly
destroying her heart. Denied an experimental new treatment
that could save her life by the Straits' managed-care
provider, Chaney has become a symbol of a health care
system driven by costs, not care. And Alan believes that
somewhere along the way, Merritt has gotten lost in all
the media attention surrounding her younger sibling. But
as Merritt begins to recover, yet still refuses to speak,
Alan suspects that something else may lie behind her
suicide attempt. Then a wealthy executive of the family's
HMO is found dead ... and Alan and Denver detective Sam
Purdy uncover shocking evidence that links Merritt to his
death. With his wife, Boulder County D.A. Lauren Crowder,
away helping out her ailing mother at the risk of her own
fragile health, Alan must sort through the most complex
and elusive case of his career, along with his own
feelings of loneliness, anger, and helplessness.