 After Grace is hit by a streetcar, she is visited in the hospital by Dean, a friend of her brother Phil. They talk about Phil, who has contracted tuberculosis and has gone west to try to recover. Soon afterward, Dean s persistent cough is diagnosed as tuberculosis, and he also goes west. Then Grace herself contracts the disease. Lacking money for expenses, she goes to an open-air sanatorium near home. Now all three must play the  lone game  of battling against the deadly disease.