Lalage's grandfather, Dr Robert Lister, had been the last in a long line of Listers who had served the village as doctors, all of them loved and respected by their patients for their kindness and humanity. After his death, the whole village eagerly awaits the new doctor's arrival. But when Jonathan Cunningham takes up his post Lalage finds his manner upsetting, she resents his interference in her family's problems, and finds his immediate success with the villagers galling