The way I remember it, Meg Laurel was born in the Appalachians and suffered medical mistreatment from the local backwoods doctor. Later she became a successful woman doctor in the city. But she has nightmares of being mistreated in the Appalachians and figures she has no choice but to make a journey back to the Appalachians to provide modern medical care and make amends with the past that is haunting her. It seems that on the wagon trip up the mountains from the railroad, some of her stuff falls out of the wagon and down a cliff. She doesn't get along well with Granny Arrowroot. Most local people don't have anything to do with her, either. Eventually she and the hillbillies come to terms. She becomes ill herself and needs something that went over the cliff.