In a world where life and death depends on split-second decisions, the doctors of an urban teaching hospital work overtime to heal the bodies--and the lives--of all those who enter the University Medical Center--the U.M.C. Dr. Joseph Gannon (Richard Bradford) and Dr. Paul Lochner (James Daly) struggle to keep two men alive: Raymond Hanson (William Windom) and their colleague, Dr. Forestman (Edward G. Robinson). They cannot save Hanson, but before he dies Hanson wills his heart to save Dr. Forestman--without telling his wife. When Mrs. Hanson (Kim Stanley) discovers the close relationship between the three doctors, she files a malpractice suit--claiming that Gannon and Lochner allowed her husband die to save Dr. Forestman.