From the first moment Richard Feynman, the brilliant young scientist from Far Rockaway, New York, saw Arline Greenbaum, he was utterly entranced and challenged by her. She was the most popular girl around--beautiful, socially adept, a talented artist who possessed a great gift for life. Together, the two shared a rare complicity and utter honesty which they felt made their relationship unique and special. Suddenly, Arline fell ill and was finally diagnosed with tuberculosis, a highly contagious and, at that time, incurable disease. A trained empiricist who always challenged conventional wisdom, Richard tried to rationalize the mystery of life, but, while he could probe the depths of atomic physics, he had to accept that her illness was beyond his understanding and control--beyond the power and limits of "modern" science. So, as Richard tried to wrestle with reality, he learned the hardest lessons of the human heart.