Marcia Gardinier is leaving Wyoming to begin nurses' training in Colorado. She is eager to escape an impoverished and chaotic home, an unstable and juvenile mother, and a distant but controlling father. Her small suitcase is light on clothes but filled with painful memories.

Much to her father's dismay, Marcia has chosen to attend St. Joseph's, a Catholic school of nursing in Denver. Her decision leaves her with no financial support from her father and a haphazard approach to paying for an education.

At St. Joseph's, Marcia begins to form enduring friendships and to search...