Rob Allerton has problems. His stepfather, Josiah Foy, is determined to make a shipping clerk out of him, but Rob hates everything about the family business. And when he isn't getting into trouble at work, Rob and his half-sister Rachel are being set up for trouble at home by their stepbrother, Thomas. Then, on top of everything else, smallpox breaks out. Rob's friend, Dr. Boylston, has a radical new treatment that may save people from smallpox, but...