In 1954, Dr. Richard "Dick" Grant a plastic surgeon at Cedars Hospital in Los Angeles, was being emotionally demoralized by his boss, Dr. Bart Thompson, and, finally, walked away from his life after freezing during a surgery. Dick fled to New York where he was mugged and his wallet was stolen. Using the alias Richard Edmonds, Dick moved into a boardinghouse run by the sympathetic Mrs. Laury. Dick was withdrawn and uncommunicative until he befriended Marie Wallace, a cheerful young woman from Iowa who was also staying at Mrs. Laury's. Despite the fact that she was blind in one eye, Marie was a practicing artist. Gradually, Marie drew Dick out of his shell and painted a portrait of him, which she called "Dark Echo" to reflect Dick's obvious inexplicable despair. Soon after, the man who had stolen Dick's wallet sent Dick's medical license to Mrs. Laury's boardinghouse, and the truth about Richard Edmonds was revealed. His secret out, Dick decided to return to Los Angeles and resume his old life. In 1955, Dick, now back on the Cedars staff, continued to correspond with Marie and flew her to Los Angeles to see an eye specialist. Dick's mother, Laura, wasted no time becoming friendly with Marie in the hopes that Dick would get over his current wife, Kathy, once and for all. However, both women quickly realized that Dick was more interested in medicine than either of them. Later, Laura leid to Kathy that Dick and Marie were engaged, which prompted Kathy to leave town. In the meantime, Marie regained the vision in her one eye and considered returning to New York until Bert Bauer, who had become her friend, advised her to stay in Los Angeles. Always the perceptive one, Bert knew that Marie was falling in love with Dick.

As Marie settled into her new life in Los Angeles, she began sketching a blond woman she saw frequently in the park. When Marie introduced herself to her subject, she was struck by the woman's blasé, detached manner. The woman told Marie only that her name was Lila Taylor and that she hailed from Flint, Michigan. Marie eventually became Lila's roommate and introduced her to Dick and his friend, Jim. Dick found Lila amoral and sarcastic, whereas Jim saw in her his own blunt, no-frills qualities, and he liked what he saw. Jim and Lila played it cool at first, but Jim finally summoned the nerve to propose. Lila refused to be tied down, and Jim soon discovered the reason why -- she had tuberculosis. Jim stood by her and paid for her treatments, and in time, the two married. The newlyweds moved to Chicago, where Jim took over his ailing father's medical practice, and they had two children.

By this time, it was 1957 and Dick was finding it difficult to admit to Marie that he loved her. Medicine so defined his identity, and his sense of manhood, that he felt inadequate because he could no longer perform surgery with his right hand. Dick's reserve finally crumbled and he married Marie, but his first love remained the medical profession. Dick's confidence as a doctor was restored when he performed stomach surgery on little Billy Bauer (later Ed) solely with his left hand. Soon he was on staff simultaneously at two local hospitals -- Cedars and General -- and was working day and night. By 1958, with Dick absent so often, Marie began to form a close, platonic friendship with Dr. Paul Fletcher, who began to pour out his heart to her. Soon Dick and Paul were at odds over Dick's ongoing neglect of Marie.

By 1960, Paul had moved on and married Anne Benedict who had given birth to Paul's son, Johnny. Dick and Marie now considered having a child of their own. Unfortunately, Marie learned she was unable to conceive. She pleaded with Dick to adopt a child, but Dick refused and sent Marie to a bevy of fertility specialists instead. In actuality, Dick feared that becoming a parent would cut into his precious career. To add insult to injury, Laura came for an extended visit and supported Dick's position. Dick later relented and he and Marie consulted an adoption agency, but the caseworker rightly sensed that Dick was halfhearted in his professed desire to have a child. So Marie busied herself by developing her artistic talent and became friendly with a rugged fellow artist named Joe Turino. At Joe's suggestion, Marie took a job at the local art school, and they both began working for the highly respected Bowden Art Galleries. Dick and Laura looked down on Joe, a plainspoken man who worked nights as a newspaper pressman, but Marie liked Joe's simplicity and forthrightness and appreciated the way he nurtured her creative spirit.

In 1961, through her artistic endeavors, Marie met Nora Sinclair Gibbs, a down-and-out model who was pregnant. Unbeknownst to Dick, Marie, Joe and Nora planned for Marie to adopt the child, who was born a girl and named Marie after her prospective mother. Soon after, Nora was killed in a car accident. To ensure a claim on the child, Marie lied and said she was Nora's sister, but to Marie's bitter disappointment, and Dick's relief, Nora's estranged parents, the Sinclairs, surfaced and took the girl in and renamed her Amy. It was then that Dick and Marie reached an impasse and separated. Back at Cedars, Dick swore Paul to secrecy that he had separated from Marie. Dick was angling to replace the retiring Dr. Ainsley as chief of staff and knew that a failing marriage would make him vulnerable to public attack. Paul urged Dick to come clean; instead, Dick asked Marie to return. Knowing Dick wanted her back only to keep up appearances, Marie refused. When Ainsley found out the truth, he offered Paul the position instead. Paul made no secret of his disinterest in the job but accepted it under pressure from his status-conscious wife, Anne. Devastated by this blow to his career, Dick told Marie he never wanted to see her again.

Watching all this from the sidelines was Joe Turino. Joe was falling in love with Marie, but he didn't want her on the rebound. Joe persuaded Marie to call Dick, but Laura intercepted the message and informed Marie that Dick was through with her. Ironically, Dick was having second thoughts and was livid when he discovered Laura's latest act of interference. He and Marie got back together, yet reached another impasse when Dick remained adamantly opposed to adopting another child. They planned to divorce, and Marie accepted Joe's marriage proposal. In 1962, as Marie and Joe planned their wedding, they considered adopting a likable boy named Philip Collins. When Philip began suffering from fainting spells, Marie brought him to Dick, who discovered the boy had a narrow aorta. Usually indifferent to children, Dick bonded with Philip and performed brilliant surgery on the boy. Marie was deeply moved, for it was through Philip she finally understood and appreciated Dick's dedication to medicine. To Joe's disappointment, Dick and Marie canceled their divorce, adopted Philip and left town with their new son.