Winthrop McGill had long ago given up his dream of becoming a doctor, despite his valiant work during the Civil War. So for nearly two decades, his livelihood — and life — has been Dr. McGill’s Traveling Medicine Show. Roaming the West in his large wagon with the midget Zeus and the beautiful Lila, he entertains and peddles his “patented medicine.†But during a stop at the Whitlock family’s sod farmhouse, his life changes. Daughter Martha becomes mighty sick, and Jonathan Whitlock threatens “Doctor†McGill: Cure Martha or die.