“[Frankie] was determined to be as exemplary a soldier as she’d been a student. It was the only way to prove to her parents that she’d been smart to enlist, courageous even; success mattered to them.”

Frankie is initially dismayed at being barred from military service, but when the option to serve as a nurse presents itself, she regards it as a means to carry on her family’s legacy and earn her parents’ pride. She will gradually discover this is not the case.

“Back in the world, when Frankie had told her friends that she’d hoped to make a difference over here, hoped to make her family proud, they’d rolled their eyes and acted impatient with patriotism; but out here, sitting beside this woman she barely knew, Frankie remembered the pride she’d felt on joining the Army.”

The need to find purpose is one that most women in Frankie’s social circle in California cannot understand. For her, enlisting in the American army where her nursing skills are needed is a step toward this goal. She is reassured that she made the right choice by the like-minded women who surround her in Saigon.

“Frankie was afraid of all of it—mass casualties, failing at her job, keeping Jamie at bay—but she’d been here almost two months and, as bad as it was, time was moving fast. She’d learned what she could from Neuro. If she really loved nursing and wanted to be even better, it was time to take the next step.

‘Okay, Captain Callahan. I’ll put in for a transfer to surgery.’”

Though she lacks confidence in her ability to thrive as an OR nurse, Frankie takes a risk anyway—challenging herself to improve. It is with the help of those who recognize her potential, both fellow nurses and love interests, that she can grow beyond self-imposed limits.