Dr. Joanna Thaxton lives for two things: her family, and searching for a cure to the terrible z-germ parasite - a disease that robs men of their minds, then their lives.

While on a research expedition, she's separated from her team - and encounters an unusual group in the city waste. A gang that respects women? That values learning and practices agriculture, rather than raiding its neighbors for scraps? This "New Republic" seems to be a ready-made ally for her homeland!

But finding White Mesa again is not so easy. And while she waits, Joanna finds her hands full trying to help these people who so desperately need her knowledge, medical skills...and Jesus.

As she throws herself into the fight against z-germ, the question that plagues her most is: will she ever see her husband and young son again? What does faith in God's goodness look like, lost in a foreign land, so far from those she loves?

Alternately philosophical, tense, romantic, and heart-breaking, Doctor is the fifth book of the White Mesa Chronicles, where the New Republic and White Mesa finally clash in open confrontation!