This book is about The Bando, a wild Italian young man from the time he enters college to becoming a doctor. After being thrown out of school with his best friend for a wild prank and flunking all his courses senior year, he figures out a way to not only graduate from college but to get into medical school. Hanging over his head is the secret of how he got into medical school and a terrible illness that he has contracted that may threaten his life just as he receives his medical degree. The story, told by his best friend, who has become a ski bum in Aspen, Colorado, follows the two from university to their different life choices and the problems they face as they get older.