In attempt to appreciate life beyond his privileged existence, Californian scriptwriter John Williamson volunteers for a humanitarian organization in Africa. Suddenly he finds himself within exotic Tunisia where destitution, inquisitive locals, and a charming English coworker renew his senses. This new life lends the American a fresh appreciation for all that is valuable including that beautiful colleague who has made known her forbidden relationship with a local manager. Later, a mountain retreat presents John with a contemporary eden all while a new disease begins to threaten his village...

Eighteen year-old Elena Mitulescu's life demanded that she seek beauty in those things most others perceive as mundane. Her beginnings within communist Romania had ordained a life of oppression and put her destitute family under watch from an abusive regime. But where others might submit to a tyrant and lend their lives to a cycle of corruption, Elena had no plans to forfeit her existence. Since her earliest memories she had wanted to be a physician and dedicate herself to the nation's impoverished orphanage residents. But even that noble goal has come under duress of governing officials who...