The apparently miraculous recovery of a hopeless goiter case causes Dr. Marsham to reconsider some of his fundamental convictions. He is reluctant to consider the possibility that a faith healer, Mr. Matthews, may have brought divine intervention, but his encounter with the man brings him to understand that healing is not something solely to do with the body. As it happens, Matthews is suffering from an advanced case of spinal tuberculosis. By all rights, he should be paralyzed and yet, by a supreme effort of will, is able to walk, though he is in terrible pain. Marsham, in despair over his recent bereavement, has sent his children away to stay with their Aunt Gwen, indefinitely, but Mr. Matthews gives him the courage to resume his life, and to forgive himself for his wife's death.Robert, meanwhile, is happily settling into his new Harley Street surgery, and has brought Kate in to help keep order.

Robert has been invited by wealthy Alice Costigan to her country house for a shooting party. He has high hopes of furthering his personal relationship with his hostess, but soon discovers that he has a rival for her affections, in the person of eminent Harley Street physician Aubrey Savier.During Robert's absence, Finn O'Neill returns to London for one day on his return route to America, and Eleanor invites him to stay the night. In the morning, they agree to marry upon his return next June.After returning to London, Alice stops by the Bramwells' house to return Robert's watch, which he had left behind. But her infant nephew Theo is clearly ill, and when Robert diagnoses an interseseption of the bowel he advises immediate surgery. Alice, however, is averse to the idea (her late husband had died ""under the knife"") and calls in Aubrey Savier, who suggests inflation of the bowel as an alternative. Next day, however, little Theo is worse than before and Robert, now with Eleanor's support,

The year is 1895, the place is London. Recently qualified doctor Eleanor Bramwell has an observational position in the East London Hospital, but faces resistance from the almost exclusively male medical profession, especially Sir Herbert Hamilton, the scalpel-happy head surgeon. As it happens, Sir Herbert has high hopes of securing funding for a new ward from Lady Cora Peters, who owns a property in Thrift Street. After agreeing to examine her friend, Lady Cora's sister-in-law Victoria Carstairs, who thinks she is pregnant, Eleanor makes a terrible discovery. The repercussions result in her banishment by Sir Herbert from the hospital, and it looks as if her only option will be to take private patients referred by her father. But Lady Cora is not the delicate flower Sir Herbert mistakes her for. She has seen Eleanor's success at saving the crushed foot of a labourer, Daniel Bently (and Sir Herbert's later erasure of this achievement), and is impressed as well by her efforts to save Vict

The Thrift is not yet fully operational, but an emergency patient, Frank Harrison, is brought in with a serious burn on his arm. When he returns the next day asking for more morphine, Eleanor realises he has a more serious ailment. He is suffering from a strangulated hernia, but turns violent when she asks to examine him. Meanwhile Robert provides his daughter with her first private patient, a Miss Peggy Heart, but Eleanor is not amused to discover that she is in fact a music-hall singer whom her father is seeing socially. When Harrison collapses in the street, Eleanor is at last able to convince him that he urgently needs an operation. She is eager to perform it herself, as she has not previously had any surgical experience (apart from amputating Daniel Bentley's toes), but requires the services of a qualified anaesthetist. Joe Marsham fits that description, and when Eleanor presents her case as an emergency, he agrees to assist, though he has anbitions to be a surgeon himself. L

Robert is celebrating his impending election as a Fellow the Royal College of Physicians, thanks to his old friend Sir William Fredericks. Sir William's son, Martin, plans to go to medical school and is being given the opportunity of observing Robert's practice and the Thrift. In the midst of the festivities, Robert's long-estranged sister Emily returns from India twenty years after eloping with a married man, an estate manager. Emily had taken with her not only all of her mother's jewels, but also 5000 pounds in cash--which would have been Robert's inheritance. Needless to say, Robert is less than thrilled to see her. Mr. Coxon, Emily's lover (whose wife had refused to divorce him), has died and, since she has no claim on the pension, she is now penniless. Eleanor tries to effect a reconciliation, believing that her aunt is now a reformed character, but Robert is resistant. Meanwhile, Marsham's two-year-old daughter Molly is admitted with a broken leg to the Thrift, where a child has

Eleanor retreats to the country to recover from the emotional blow dealt her by Dr. O'Neill. She is hosted by old friends from medical-school days, the Kilshaws, whose outwardly blissful existence begins to appear to be concealing a disturbing secret. Their efforts to fix Eleanor up with a possible suitor, Mr. Jameson, is acutely embarrassing, but then comes a distraction with an outbreak of measles at the local school. The local schoolmaster, Mr. Herne, seems harsh and callous, but in the end proves a sound man.Sarah Mole, who is doubling as the Kilshaw's nursery maid and Mr. Herne's assistant, finds she can no longer conceal the fact that she is five months pregnant, but will not name the father. She is shunned by the entire village, but when she miscarries and Eleanor brings her to the Kilshaw home for care, she blurts out her secret to Eleanor. Seeing that Sarah cannot stay in the village, Eleanor decides to take her to London and find her a place training to be a nurse.

It is still late winter, 1896, and the Bramwells have gone to Eastbourne for a short break. Robert returns to London, but Eleanor stays on for a few days on her own. Or so she claims. In fact, she has (to every viewer's astonishment!) arranged to meet Finn O'Neill there, without telling her father. When others see them together, she introduces him as her cousin. Unfortunately, a Mr. Smythe is a patient of her father, and upon returning to London tells Robert about meeting Eleanor's ""charming Irish cousin"". Robert is not amused at his daughter's deception.Back at the Thrift, Robert has discovered the gas plumbing needs repair. Work is well underway when Eleanor returns, but the subsequent rift with her father requires that work be stopped, since Robert is suddenly unwilling to pay for it.Sidney is in a foul mood, and Nurse Carr wonders why, but Sidney won't talk to her about it. Eventually, it turns out that his mother wants him to leave home now he's 16. Nurse Carr reluctantly agrees t

When a woman, Clare Carter, arrives at the Thrift in labour, Lady Cora recognises her as her laundrywoman. Though she claims the father of her baby is a sailor at sea, a man soon arrives claiming to be her husband. The staff initially do not believe him, because he is black, and Clare is white. Clare has gone into labour a month prematurely, and it appears it will be a breach delivery, but soon the contractions subside, and Eleanor leaves her in Nurse Carr's care. At home, Robert has arranged a dinner party in honour of Eleanor's 27th birthday, but when word arrives from the Thrift that Clare's labour has resumed, Eleanor begs her father to come with her to assist in the difficult delivery. Lady Cora is left to explain to the other guests that Robert's wife had died in childbirth, delivering Eleanor 27 years ago today. The delivery goes badly, and Clare does not survive. Charlie Carter is devastated, but determined to bring up his daughter. Unfortunately, he is not only jobless and

It is October 1899 and the country is gripped by patriotism as the second campaign of the Boer War commences. Eleanor becomes the examining physician for the local Army recruiting station, to the annoyance of more than one officer, as well as Doctor Marsham, who does not approve of such duties for his fiancee. When a Dutch national is brought to the Thrift for treatment of injuries suffered in a racist attack by some British soldiers, there is staff dissention and further friction between Eleanor and Joe Marsham. When Eleanor meets the dashing young Major Guy Quarrie, she quickly falls under his spell.

On their way to an auction to bid for a building neighbouring the Thrift, Robert and Eleanor are caught up in a horrific train crash on the underground near King William Street station. Robert suffers a broken arm, and so is only able to direct Eleanor in amputating the crushed leg of a fellow passenger, in order to extricate him from the wreckage. Upon bringing their patient, Peter Mills, to the Thrift, they are surprised when his two younger brothers arrive on the scene and take up protective positions. It turns out that the Mills brothers are notorious local gangsters, and soon the grateful Peter produces the deed to the building Eleanor had presumed was lost. But there is a price to pay, and when Peter's wound turns septic with gas gangrene, he will not allow anyone but Eleanor perform the further amputation. His brothers are more than a little obstructive, and it quickly becomes apparent that they will not long mourn their elder sibling, should he shuffle off his mortal coil.

Charles Sheldon, a supplier of surgical equipment to the Thrift, arrives with an emergency casualty, a flamboyantly dressed young woman who he says ran out in front of his carriage. When Eleanor examines the patient, she is shocked to discover it is in fact a young man, Frederick Hackett. The other patients and staff of the Thrift are none too pleased to have a ""Marjory"" in their midst, but his injuries are too severe for Eleanor not to keep him in overnight.Back at the Bramwell home, Robert has been persuaded by widow Elizabeth Quail to entertain her ""spiritual leader"" Mr. Sullivan, a Sally Army zealot whom Mrs. Quail believes could be of advantage to the Thrift.The next day, Mr Beamish, a Thrift patient with an open wound, pops out of the infirmery for a pint and returns, roaring drunk and carrying a broken bottle, with which he slashes young Frederick Hackett before fleeing. Eleanor struggles to save Hackett, and gives her own blood for a transfusion. When Charles Sheldon pops in to

The Thrift has now been in operation for over a year, and Eleanor thinks it may be time to move on. She applies for a part-time position at St. Jude's Hospital, where she runs into the expected opposition, spearheaded by the charismatic Dr. Finbar (""Finn"") O'Neill. Although she is clearly the best-qualified applicant, Dr. O'Neill's opposition appears to be insurmountable, until Robert intervenes by inviting the board chairman, Dr. James, to dinner. O'Neill is furious, and Eleanor discovers why: in the not-too-distant past, her father had engaged Dr. O'Neill in an acrimonious exchange of letters in one of the leading medical journals. Despite this disadvantage, Eleanor eventually manages to earn Dr. O'Neill's respect and, when his Registrar, Dr. Rolls, moves on to a better post, he offers the full-time position to Eleanor. She is flattered and nearly accepts, but when one of her Thrift patients, a 12-year-old prostitute named Lucy, arrives at St, Jude's in desperate need and is nearly t

It is the sweltering summer of 1896, and serious industrial accidents amongst the overworked, underpaid employees of the local brewery are on the rise, partly due to the fact that they are slaking their thirst while on the job. Eleanor is appalled to learn of their working conditions, but finds she must hold her tongue because the Thrift's chief benefactor, wealthy widow Alice Costigan, is not only the brewery's owner, but has also caught the eye of her father, Robert.Finn O'Neill suddenly returns from America, passing through London on his way to a six-week lecture tour on the Continent. Eleanor finds herself drawn to him just as much as before but, though he, too, claims to want to cement their relationship, there is a small political difficulty back in Chicago, where Finn's boss, Dr. Fraser, has ambitions to marry his 18-year-old daughter, Emmaline, to Dr. O'Neill.

Fed up with endless self-sacrifice and hoping to improve life for the family he has been neglecting, Joe Marsham has decided to accept the much better-paid position in Edinburgh he has been offered. But then he discovers a secret that his wife has been concealing from him (and which he would have noticed for himself if she hadn't been avoiding marital relations since the death of their infant son George, two years ago): she has developed breast cancer. Despite the utterly pessimistic assessment of Harley Street specialist Professor Osborne, he asks Eleanor and Robert to perform the necessary surgery on his wife--but is it already too late? She urges him to remain in London for the sake of their three daughters, if she should die.

Eleanor has fled to the country and so Robert finds himself temporarily in charge of the Thrift. At Alice Costigan's suggestion, and against the advice of Dr. Marsham, he hires a young trainee, Charlotte Adler. Her first assignment is to make a detailed inventory of the infirmary, from which Dr. Marsham discovers that bed-linen and, more seriously, opium, is going missing. Young Sidney Bentley is the obvious suspect and, despite his protestations of innocence, is summarily dismissed.Meanwhile, Ethel has her hands full at home with her aged and rapidly declining mother. When the kindly shopkeeper from across the street, Mr. Collard, offers to help, she refuses to let him in--probably because she has had to tie her mother up to keep her from wandering about. When Charlotte stops by with some flowers while nurse Carr is out, she discovers Till Carr tied up and drugged with opium, and the truth comes out.

Robert has decided to open a Harley Street practice, to which end he borrows the necessary capital through his friend George Talbot, who arranges a very reasonable rate of interest from his banker father-in-law. Unfortunately, that is not the only interest involved, as Robert quickly finds himself having to fend off (without offending) his friend George's wife (and the banker's daughter), Laura. At the party celebrating Robert's new venture, he proposes to Alice Costigan, and she accepts him. Getting Laura Talbot to accept these circumstances is another matter.At the Thrift, Sidney Bentley seems smitten with a young burn patient named Florence. But despite Joe Marsham's encouragement, Sidney's bashfulness seems certain to prevent any relationship developing.