Medicine for the Blues

As a young surgeon, Carl Holman has experienced the horrors of World War I and the loss of his lover, a fellow officer. Back home after the war, he befriends a young jazz musician who he hopes will become a companion he can share his life with. But this is Oregon: The Ku Klux Klan is gaining influence, homosexual acts are illegal, and such a relationship will jeopardize Carl’s promising medical career. Musician Jimmy Harper has his own dreams for the future and his own obstacles to overcome before he will allow himself to accept Carl’s love.

Jimmy Harper arrives in Chicago with the Diggs Monroe Jazz Orchestra, seeking fame and fortune. Instead, he descends into the jazz underworld, where he becomes entangled in dark dealings with a sinister mob boss and in an erotic affair with a Black drag performer. In this unfamiliar world, Jimmy begins to question whether he can trust anyone, even his old band members.

In a time when homosexuals had to hide their identity, Dr. Carl Holman's standing with the prestigious clinic where he works is strained to the breaking point by pressures from the Ku Klux Klan, societal expectations to marry and have children, and other forces beyond his control. As his compassion compels him to treat unorthodox cases, involving addiction, birth control, and child abuse, he is pushed to make increasingly difficult decisions about his professional and domestic affairs.