House spent the last year in prison at the East New Jersey Correctional Facility after ramming his car into Cuddy's house and attempting to escape responsibility with his trip outside the country. Entirely cut off from his old life, House determines his current problems result from his inability to deal with people. Feeling he will never be able to practice medicine again, he plans instead to return to university to earn a doctorate in physics. This field will all but assure his isolation from other human beings. When a fellow inmate becomes ill with strange symptoms, House tries to help him while encouraging the young prison clinic doctor, Jessica Adams, to risk her job and trust his diagnosis.