Peter is on his way to LaVerne, Mississippi.  Jeanie tells him that she has family there.  Jeanie is on her way home from her stay in the hospital for her Hepatitis C.  Peter will be working at the hospital in LaVerne for two weeks.  When he arrives, his car breaks down.  Two teen age boys drive by in a truck, but they do not stop for him.  He has to walk into town.  There isn't a hospital there, but only a small run down house where the nurse, Maureen, treats the patients.  She has a herniated disk and a hurt leg, so Peter is there so that she can get some rest.  She also has a son there, Sonny, he is one of the boys in the truck that wouldn't pick Peter up.  She tells him that it is hard to keep a doctor there and he can see why.  Peter is there only 1 day and he is ready to leave.  There is a lot of racism in this small Mississippi town.  He gets a ride from two ladies when he sees there has been a tractor accident he gets them to pull over.  A man is lying on the ground and he tells Peter that his son was in his lap.  Peter hunts for the son and asks one of the ladies to go call for an ambulance.  The next day, Peter goes back into work.  The mother and wife of the people in the tractor accident is there.  She has baked him a sweet potato pie for helping her family.  It is the best thing he has eaten since he has been there he tells her as Maureen looks on with a smile.  Peter goes by boat across the river to tend to a pregnant girl.  Her father tells him that his kind has already caused enough trouble with their family and that he is not welcome there.  Peter leaves.  Peter has a young diabetic girl that he talks to.  He tells her that she needs to be checking her blood sugar and injecting her insulin daily.  She is an athletic girl and is afraid it will hinder her.  The father of the pregnant comes running in for help.  He wants Maureen to go with him, but she tells him that she can't.  Peter is the only one that can go.  The girl is in labor and is in a lot of pain.  Peter uses ether to sedate her and has the mother read off of his laptop the procedure for delivering a breach baby.  The baby is born and it is a girl.  The grandfather is happy to see that the baby is white.  Peter tells the mother of the baby that the pigment in the baby's skin may not be developed yet and that the maybe may be black.  He wants to know if there is any reason to fear for their safety.  He wants to take the mother and child back with him.  He tells Maureen to tell the girls father that the baby has jaundice and needs to go back with them.  The father offers Benton money, but he will not accept it, but Maureen takes it.  Benton checks up on the diabetic girl.  They go for a run.  Benton has to drive 80 miles to get to the nearest hospital and pharmacy.  He takes the diabetic girl, Adelina, and her grandmother with him so that she can be checked by the doctor.  The doctor tells them that the girl has a heart murmur.  Adelina needs surgery.  The grandmother is upset because Peter had not seen that.  She had lost her daughter, Adelina's mother, from a surgery and she is worried.  Benton gets to see his son Reece on a video conferencing phone.  Jessie, the old man in town, has died of old age.  Peter goes to the funeral.  He finds out that the nurse he has been working with is a nun.  Peter learns that Adelina wants to be a doctor some day.  Maureen and Sonny are driving Peter to catch his flight when they learn that there was an accident on a shrimp boat.  Peter, with the help of Sonny and the nurse, saves two lives.  Sonny shakes his hand.  Benton missed his flight, but he doesn't mind staying one more night.  The next morning he leaves out early because he has something to take care of.  He has brought Adelina and her grandmother back to Chicago with him, so that she can have the surgery on her heart.  Peter finds out that Jeanie is back in the hospital.  Her nose is bleeding and Peter goes to wipe it.  She tells him, "Don't, I'm poison!".  Peter comforts her.

Reviewed by Tony Conner on 09-16-2000