During their first year of internship at New North Hospital, a group of aspiring doctors undergo both personal and professional upheavals. John Paul Otis destroys his medical career when he falls in love with celebrated model Lisa Cardigan and tries to steal pills from the hospital in order to abort her pregnancy. His lifelong friend, Lew Worship, feels duty-bound to report the theft, and Otis is expelled. Lew, who begins internship with plans to become a surgeon, becomes dedicated to obstetrics. He falls in love with a student nurse, Gloria, and tries to persuade her to marry him and give up her dream of going abroad. Intern Considine, who is anxious to study under psychiatrist Dr. Bonny, becomes so involved in two simultaneous romances that he loses sight of his goal and suffers a nervous collapse. The interns are confronted with the ethical problems of mercy killing, and the tragic death of an incurably ill Malaysian girl inspires Dr. Sid Lackland to plan to devote his life to aiding the underprivileged in the Far East. Mado, a woman intern from behind the Iron Curtain, is so dedicated to her profession that the head surgeon, Dr. Riccio, forgets his prejudice against women doctors and makes her his assistant.