Dr. Kate Richmond, the daughter of American medical missionaries, is plunged into tumultuous revolutionary China by the simple act of caring for a savagely beaten elderly man. Her physician's skills and her involvement with the Chinese people are further tested when several young Communists bring a wounded American sympathizer to her. As Kuomintang troops begin their purge of Shanghai, Kate and her Chinese friends flee and find themselves on the infamous Long March through the vast Chinese countryside. The group braves starvation, harsh climate, enemy attacks, and internal dissension before achieving victory. Although the writing is sometimes awkward and uneven, this is a vivid account of revolutionary China and the ordinary people involved.