 Lucas and Mark have painful discussion about Mark s deceased mother. A short time later, Mark drinks tainted water from a barrel and contracts typhoid fever. Lucas is forced to seek help from an eccentric old doctor. While they labor together to help Mark survive his illness, Mark, during intense bouts of fever, has a vision of his mother. She helps him to come to terms with her absence from his and his father s day-to-day lives, and encourages him to struggle his way back to life.