The four hundred townspeople of Ennis, Montana needed a doctor and Ronald E. Losee, MD, became “Doc.” Learning from his failures and rejoicing in his triumphs, he performed appendectomies on a rickety operating-room table, repaired fractured tibiae, and even amputated a leg with a hacksaw. After a two year stint at t he Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, Losee returned to Montana to begin the pioneering work that gained him an international reputation. This moving account of his time there evokes both the feel of small-town life and the pioneering spirit of the West.