Marcia Gardinier is leaving Wyoming to begin nurses' training in Colorado. She is eager to escape an impoverished and chaotic home, an unstable and juvenile mother, and a distant but controlling father. Her small suitcase is light on clothes but filled with painful memories. Much to her father's dismay, Marcia has chosen to attend St. Joseph's, a Catholic school of nursing in Denver. Her decision leaves her with no financial support from her father and a haphazard approach to paying for an education. At St. Joseph's, Marcia begins to form enduring friendships and to search for fulfillment of her heart's strongest hunger, a true and lasting love. But the past, both remote and near, continues to bedevil her and may cause her to lose a young physician to whom she is attracted. Written in the tradition of the classic romance novel, this Suitcase Tale is a story of betrayal and striving against seemingly overwhelming obstacles; a story of healing, hope, and love.