To begin with, Frank Ryan's election to the City Council was at first endangered by breaking his neck and fracturing his skull in a fall on the stairs at Riverside Hospital in New York City. He lay in a coma for weeks and surfaced only once or twice when he said the words "Delia" and ,"pushed," which didn't make much sense to anyone. Delia, Frank's wife, is a pretty, child-like woman who is given to fits of temper and petulance. Another mystery that became interwoven With Frank's condition was the mysterious disappearance of $6500 from, his personal belongings, All anyone could do was to wait and hope that he would wake up and be able to explain the circumstances which had everyone else in a fog.

When he tiredly did start to recover, he would not tell what happened. And he refused to put in a claim for the $6500 at a time when he was in dire need to further his campaign. Of course, the story began to dribble out anyway, due to the clever probing and published insinuations of newsman Jack Fenelli. Convinced that something was not quite right, Jack published an article accusing Frank of not leveling with the people--a severe charge for a reform candidate. Needless to say, Frank's family and friends developed a great distaste for Jack.

Finally, the lid came off, and Frank had to tell his family and friends that he was being blackmailed! Dr. Roger Coleridge had found out that Frank had been having a long-term affair with Roger's own sister, Jill .Roger is very interested in. beco~!n- Chief Resident at Riverside Hospital, but he has a great weakness for gambling. To pay off his debts to underworld character Nick Szabo, Roger told Frank he would not ~reveal Frank's affair in return for the $6500. Seeing the money and knowing that Frank had meant it for him, Roger had taken the cash.

Further problems arose for Roger, however, when the loan shark, Nick Szabo, began pressuring Roger to reveal the source of his cash. Finding out about Frank's affair,Nick tried t° pressure Frank into going along with a shady land deal which would have benefited Szabo. To short-circuit the pressure, both from Szabo and from Fenelli, Frank spilled the whole story · to his family and his political colleagues (without revealing that it was Roger who had been blackmailing him).

Ironically, it was Delia who saved Frank's political career. The solution to the other unanswered question as to the word "pushed" was that Delia had followed him to the hospital, and they had had a fight. Frank told her that he Was leaving her for Jill, and, in a rage, Delia had pushed him down the stairs. La~,~she convinced Frank that he Ought not tell what really happened, and instead say that he had tripped. Then, when he offered his resignation to the. City Council, Delia, afraid that she would lose the only real family and security she had ever known, told the political leaders that Frank had told her the whole thing, that they had reconciled, and that they were closer than ever (three lies). They agreed to not accept his resignation and to continue their support of him. This left Frank's entire political career tied to his marriage to Delia, and, to make matters worse, Maeve and Johnny, his parents, told him that they ~vanted him to think of his young son and decide Whether or not his love for Jill was worth breaking up his home.

Frank's sister, Mary, had put in a great deal of time on the campaign. Like all the Ryans, Mary is very close and devoted to her family. Though very disappointed in Frank for not telling the truth, she realized that he, too, was human and fallible. And she began to fall ever more in love with the very man who had blown the lid off the story of the $6500, Jack Fenelli. Much to her family's horror, they became lovers. To' make it worse, Jack was reluctant: about any long-term commitment--like marriage. Ironically, when Mary left the Ryan house because Johnny had told her that Jack would not be welcome there, it was Jack who brought her back, saying that he wished he had had a family like the Ryans instead of being an orphan.

Pat and Faith soon became lovers, with Faith the more committed of the two. Pat, however, did not want the responsibilities or the entanglements of the kind of relationship that Faith wanted. And he finally began to rebel against the smothering affection she lavished on him.

Nell Beaulac, Bucky's aunt, came to work at Riverside over the objections of Ed Coleridge. Soon, though, they became much closer friends. She was soon followed by her estranged husband, Dr. Seneca Beaulac, Who obtained the position of Chief of Neuro-Surgery over Ed, which caused some temporary bad feeling. Nell had left Seneca, because he would not allow her latitude to make her. own decisions, and she felt compelled to play second fiddle to his professional aspirations. Also, and more importantly, Nell was hiding the existence of two life-endangering aneurysms in her brain {aneurysms are blood-filled "sacks" in the wall of a blood vessel which weaken the walls of the vessel, causing them to burst). When Seneca found out, he was crushed and very upset that she hod not told him, but they soon had a reconciliation.

Nell's first aneurysm burst at the Frank Ryan victory celebration. Dr. Clem Moultrie and Seneca performed emergency surgery, which unfortunately left Nell partially paralyzed... and living on borrowed time.

Sometime before, Seneca had hired a lab assistant named Kenneth Castle to help Nell with her research. Kenneth took an immediate interest in Faith Coleridge. He began to spy on her and Pat. Then he stole her room key and had a duplicate made. He also began to "remodel" a small room in the basement of the hospital that no one even knew existed.

Pat finally told Faith, that he did not want to get married or even go on with their relationship. Faith, very hurt and confused, told everyone she was going away to think things over. But Kenneth tricked her into his cellar prison, which he had fashioned for her. In his mind, he thought he was protecting Faith from the unpleasantness of the world, just as he would protect his own mother--who happened to be in an insane asylum! To complicate matters, Faith broke her leg while trying to escape, and again later, fell and injured her head. But she was unsuccessful in attempts to convince Ken that she really needed to have medical attention.

One day the gas in the hospital was turned off to fix a leak in one of the labs. Since the only fixtures in Faith's "room" were old gas lights, when the gas was turned back on, she was nearly suffocated before Kenneth realized that the gas was leaking into the room. He was so upset that he decided to call her father Dr. Ed Coleridge.

Before he could reach Coleridge, Ken was questioned harshly by police Lt. Bob Reid (who was also Frank Ryan's campaign manager and Delia's brother). Pat later followed Ken into the basement and found Faith, but Ken disappeared. Though on the way to recovery, Faith had nightmares about her ordeal.

The same day that Faith disappeared, Nell Beaulac's second aneurysm burst; this time Seneca and Bucky had to operate. Nell's life functions began to slip, and Seneca and Bucky put Nell on life-support equipment. They later learned that permanent brain damage had occurred, but by that time they could not turn off the life-support equipment without the consent of Nell's physician-in-charge, Clem Moultrie, who refused to allow Nell to die.

Seneca had promised Nell that he would not allow her to continue an interminable life as a human vegetable. Against all advice from Bucky, Seneca's own mother Marguerite, and the rest of the hospital staff, Seneca finally turned off the equipment. He did so at the threat of criminal indictment, possible imprisonment, and the sure loss of his medical career.