The book traces the life of physician and anthropologist Paul Farmer with particular focus on his work fighting tuberculosis in Haiti, Peru and Russia.

PART I: Doktè Paul Introduces Farmer's work at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and at Zanmi Lasante founded by Partners In Health (PIH) in Cange, Haiti.

PART III: Médicos Aventureros In 1995 MDR-TB claimed the life of a close friend known as Father Jack, in Lima, Peru.

PART IV: A Light Month for Travel Follows Farmer from Haiti to Cuba, Paris, Russia, and other locations in his quest to treat infectious disease.

PART V: O for the P In 2000, PIH learns it has been awarded a $45 million grant, by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to combat MDR-TB in Lima, along with other organizations.