Not as a Stranger

Intolerant of the weaknesses of others, especially those closest to him, an ego-driven aspiring physician comes to grips with his own imperfections. Intern Lucas Marsh is intent upon becoming not just a successful doctor but a first-class one. He courts and marries the warm-hearted Kristina, not out of love but because she is highly knowledgeable in the skills of the operating room, and because she has frugally put aside her savings through the years. He shrewdly knows that she will be a supportive wife in every way. She helps make him the success he wants to be and cheerfully moves with him to the small town in which he starts his practice. But as much as he tries to be a good husband to undemanding Kristina, Marsh easily falls into the arms of a local siren, and the patience of long-sorrowing Kristina wears thin. Reasoning that he no longer needs her, she asks for a divorce. A calamity now brings Marsh to his senses: Dr. Runkleman, Marsh's gruff and wise employer, is stricken with a heart attack and requires emergency surgery, and Marsh is forced to operate. —alfiehitchie