"When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances "Frankie" McGrath hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation.

"When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances "Frankie" McGrath hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation.

Raised on idyllic Coronado Island and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing, being a good girl.

But in 1965 the world is changing, and she suddenly imagines a different choice for her life.

When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.