Summary
In the dust‑choked precinct of Fractal, a fledgling mining settlement teetering on the brink of medical oblivion, superintendent Bob Lang convenes a council of weary townsfolk desperate for a cure. A missive dispatched to a prestigious university summons Kitty Kelly, a freshly minted doctor whose ambition eclipses the era’s gendered expectations. Upon her arrival, the townspeople—initially hostile to the notion of a woman wielding a scalpel—are swiftly disarmed by her striking beauty and professional poise, prompting a flood of patients afflicted by a series of inexplicable maladies that seem to plague the community. Kitty, whose attraction to Bob is tempered by his habitual drinking, confronts him with a stark ultimatum: a ninety‑day sobriety pact, sealed with a fierce promise. The fragile equilibrium shatters when Jerry Williams, a saloon proprietor entangled with Lola, a mixed‑heritage woman, lures Kitty to an isolated shack and perpetrates a violent assault. Lola’s confession to Bob triggers a rescue, culminating in Williams’s brutal death and Bob’s subsequent arrest. Undeterred, Kitty embarks on a dogged investigation, coaxing Lola into revealing the truth, thereby exonerating Bob. The narrative resolves with Kitty and Bob rekindling their romance, their bond now tempered by mutual respect and the promise of a healthier future for Fractal.
Synopsis
Bob Lang, the superintendent at the Western mining town of Fracas, convenes a meeting to procure a doctor for the community. After a letter is sent to a leading university, Kitty Kelly, a recent medical school graduate, accepts their offer. When the town learns that a woman doctor is coming, they plan to send her right back, but after they see pretty Kitty, all the miners fill her waiting room with ailments linked to mysterious epidemics. Although Kitty is attracted to Bob, she castigates him for drinking. After he seizes her and threatens to hold her in his arms until she forgives him, Kitty, not displeased, makes Bob promise to stop drinking for ninety days. Jerry Williams, a saloon keeper who lives with Lola, a squaw, and their child, lures Kitty to a secluded shack and assaults her. Lola tells Bob, who rescues Kitty and thrashes Williams. When Williams is found dead the next day, Bob is arrested. After Kitty investigates and gets Lola to confess, Kitty and Bob resume their romance.
