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A student saves a woman's life with an act of spectacular bravery. Though she is initially the incarnation of David Andrews' every fantasy, 22 months later he has to face a darker reality: "She had brought him from death to life, from emptiness to fullness: to the death that is emptiness she had returned him."
So begins 28 years in which the brilliant medical career expected of David does not materialize; a consolation marriage fails; and alcohol first curses his life then lays a blessing on it. At their end chance confronts him with Kate Harper-Jones, the woman he believes robbed him by treachery of the life she gave him... and he learns the truth of what really happened.