Nurse Karen Jordan arrives at an airport in Los Angeles, CA, to take her new job at West Ridge Hospital. Meanwhile, African American boxer Jackie Carter goes into cardiac arrest after being punched in the chest, and is rushed into West Ridge’s emergency room. Dr. Ben Traynor, assisted by intern Dr. David Aaron and African American nurse Lynn Pierce, revive him. Afterward, Lynn meets Karen and agrees to let her move into the apartment she shares with Tracy Dean, another nurse. Later, at the instigation of her boyfriend David, Tracy steals a bottle containing a stimulant at the nurses’ station pharmacy. An orderly, William Simpson, sees the theft, but says nothing. Later, after David and Tracy make love at her apartment, he injects some of the drug into his arm. Tracy complains he is putting both of them at risk, but he claims he needs the stimulant to maintain his long hours as an intern. Karen, meanwhile, works in the emergency room with Ben and finds herself drawn to him. Lynn takes a special interest in Jackie, who has lost all hope now that his boxing career is over, but he resists her efforts to raise his spirits and orders her out of his room. However, Ben assures Lynn she is doing the right thing and encourages her to keep it up. Kathy accompanies Tracy and David to a motorcross track, where he races his motorcycle. Another racer, Reno, makes a play for Karen and says he will see her later. At the hospital, two henchmen bring their badly wounded boss, Gino Calderone, into the emergency room, where Ben stops internal bleeding and saves the man’s life. Afterward, Ben makes an awkward attempt to talk with Karen, who assisted in the operation, but changes his mind. When Karen leaves the hospital at dawn, Reno meets her in his dune buggy and takes her for a ride on the beach. Later, they go to his apartment, make love, and go to sleep. At the hospital, as Tracy steals another small bottle from the pharmacy, Simpson appears and says he needs her in one of the rooms. As she enters, she sees the room is empty. Simpson closes the door, grabs the drugs from her pocket, and blackmails her into having sex. Meanwhile, Lynn lifts Jackie out of his depression as they begin a sexual affair. That night, at Reno’s apartment, Karen wakes up to find him making love with two women. He wants Karen to join them, and slaps her when she refuses. Later, at the hospital, Ben asks Karen for a date and she accepts. One of her assignments is to take a set of medical instruments to a private area where bodyguards protect Gino Calderone. Gino tells her he wants to date her as soon as he gets released. That night, Simpson goes to Tracy’s apartment to collect his daily blackmail payment, which he claims will be both sex and money. David tells him Tracy was not stealing the drugs, but got them for a charity project he works on. When the disbelieving Simpson says he plans to include David as a blackmail target, the intern smashes him in the head with a statuette, killing him. Meanwhile, when Lynn meets Jackie at a black club called Maverick’s Flat, she finds him with “Mr. Brown,” a pimp and drug dealer, who wants to recruit Jackie into his operation. Afterward, she tries to convince Jackie to stay away from people like Mr. Brown. The next day, Ben and Karen deepen their relationship during a day at the zoo. In the evening, Mr. Brown drops Jackie off at his apartment, where Lynn cooks dinner. Seeing Mr. Brown’s Cadillac outside, she leaves, claiming she will have nothing to do with a man who consorts with pimps and drug dealers. David, meanwhile, injects drugs into his arm. Tracy says she wants to leave because she feels guilty about the murder, but he tells her that, as an accessory, she is “stuck tight” to him. Later, outside the hospital, Jackie tells Lynn he got a real job and cut all ties with Mr. Brown. They embrace and kiss. Tracy finds David stumbling in the halls, visibly affected by drugs, and pulls him into a spare room. Nearby, two detectives talk with Ben about William Simpson’s murder and ask to interview the staff. When David sees them, he thinks they have come for him. Attacking one of the detectives and grabbing his gun, he shoots Ben, grabs Tracy, and runs. Outside, he kills one of the detectives, and the other chases him toward the house where Gino is guarded by his henchmen. As the armed stranger runs toward them, the gangsters open fire and kill both David and Tracy. Inside the hospital, Karen cradles David’s head as he dies. Jackie and Lynn calmly escort the grieving nurse from the hospital, as a voice on the intercom calls for David and Ben to report to the operating room.