It took sixteen years and more student loans than he could ever hope to repay, but he made it. He is now a doctor, and not just any doctor, a surgeon. It says so in black and white on his diploma.

Now, there's nothing left to do but enjoy a well-deserved vacation with his fiancée before taking a position with the Veterans Administration hospital.

At least that was the plan before a mysterious gift - a pristine condition Civil War era surgical kit-sends him on a life-or-death, cross-country race for survival.