Dr. Kim Reggis, one of the country's top cardiac surgeons, finds himself ill equipped to deal with a medical catastrophe involving his own daughter, Becky. Newly divorced, Kim takes Becky to her favorite fast-food restaurant on a special night out. The quintessential American meal of burgers and fries leads to tragedy. Over the following week Becky becomes gravely ill from E. coli bacterial poisoning. Beginning with the initial emergency room visit, Kim is driven to distraction by the realities of current medicine. Already beaten down by the indignities of a major hospital merger and the subsequent loss of his departmental chairmanship, Kim collides head-on with cost-cutting rules that restrict his daughter's treatment. Half crazed by grief, Kim launches himself on an inquiry to learn how and why his daughter got sick. The trail of deadly evidence of shoddy meat-industry practices and complicity stretches from the slaughter-house to the industry hierarchy to the USDA. Aided in his quest by his ex-wife, Tracy, and a young, idealistic USDA inspector, Kim ultimately learns the shocking truth - but the price may be his life and the lives of those he loves.