Dr. Susan Wheeler is a surgical resident at Boston Memorial Hospital. Susan is devastated when a patient, Nancy Greenly, who happens to be her best friend, is pronounced brain-dead and comatose there after a routine suction D & C (Dilation and Curettage) abortion and its concomitant general anesthetic. Her suspicions are aroused when another young and otherwise healthy patient, Sean Murphy, also falls comatose during knee surgery for a recent sports injury. Susan finds that over the previous year an unusual number of other fit, young people have suffered the same fate. She discovers three similarities among the cases: they all took place in the same operating room, all patients were tissue-typed and all the comatose bodies were moved to a remote facility called the Jefferson Institute.