Surgeon Jack MacKee (William Hurt) has long learned to examine his patients not as people but as specimens. In an ironic reversal of professional perspective, the unfeeling doctor learns that he has cancer and realizes the businesslike treatment he has always doled out does nothing to encourage his -- or anyone's -- recovery. While forging a special bond with fellow cancer victim June (Elizabeth Perkins), Jack begins to discover the healing powers of love and compassion.