In 1809 Danville, Kentucky, the most reviled man in town is arguably Dr. Eph McDowell, who has newfangled ideas about how to provide health care. Despite the townsfolk relying on prayers, tonics and traditional treatments instead of Dr. McDowell's suggestion of needing to operate - cutting open a human being as health care which had never been done - they still blamed McDowell for the death of one of their own, Jim Rakes. So when Jane Crawford is diagnosed with a tumor on Christmas, Dr. McDowell again advises on operating, something again he had never done and didn't know would work. If Tom Crawford allows Dr. McDowall to operate, the townsfolk, especially Jim's uncle Sol Rakes, are ready to lynch McDowall the second Jane Crawford dies on the operating table, which they see as a certainty.
—Huggo