An implausible inheritance from a former patient prompts a Seattle doctor to reshuffle her life priorities and seek a life partner once and for all. Browsing on the Internet, she finds her match in Steve. Steve brings joy, but also complications into the doctor's life. For one, there is nine-year-old Brita who declares "I hate every centimeter of you!" More seriously, there is the complication of Steve's failing health. Steve falls precipitously into the abyss of kidney failure, requiring urgent dialysis. "Complications" takes the reader on a tumultuous course of medical and personal trials as Dr. Gromko exerts the most powerful advocacy of her life.