Dr. Brett Elliott returns to sleepy Bedford Creek, PA, to help out his mentor, Doc Overton, who is running the Bedford Creek Clinic, but who also has some unresolved health issues. Brett runs into Rebecca Forrester, his high school girlfriend’s younger sister and discovers that she’s become a medical assistant (or nurse, the book isn’t clear on this). Rebecca wants Brett to stay to run the clinic, but Brett wants to go to Chicago on a surgical fellowship and pursue medicine there.
The tired trope of “life in a small town is better than life in a big city” is overplayed here. Brett declares his love for Rebecca and asks her to follow him to Chicago; she refuses. For most sane men, that would be enough to send them packing to look for someone who’s willing to compromise in a relationship and who’s willing to try to work things out. I don’t get this attitude of hers; she’s wanted Brett for years and, when he finally falls for her, she rejects him? That’s a bit unrealistic.
Also, she holds Brett to a promise he made when he was five years old. Really? She declares her love for him at age five, he declares that he’s going to be a doctor when he grows up, and years later, she really is going to hold him to this?
Mitch Donovan and Anne Morden (from “Desperately Seeking Dad”, the first book in the miniseries) are mentioned here, as their wedding day draws closer. The book is okay, but Rebecca’s character is annoying: she hides the fact that Doc Overton has been having health problems. There’s a word for that: lying. Christians aren’t supposed to do that. Also, ever heard of medical malpractice? Brett’s friend Alex refuses medical treatment for an old injury, and Rebecca’s niece, Kristie, suffers a life-threatening allergic reaction.
The characters are, for the most part, likable, with the exception of Rebecca. Her stubbornness gets irritating after a while. We’re meant to think she’s responsible, but she comes off as wanting to be a martyr instead. “I just know I have to stay, no matter what the cost.” This is Rebecca’s response to Brett when he asks her to go to Chicago. At that point, I would have left.