Series premiere. In 1900, John W. Thackery, a brilliant yet tortured doctor working at The Knickerbocker Hospital in New York, ascends to the role of chief surgeon after the unexpected departure of his mentor, J.M. Christiansen. Though Thackery wants his own protege, Everett Gallinger, to take over the assistant chief position, Corneila Robertson, daughter of the hospital's major benefactor, insists that he hire Algernon Edwards, a talented doctor who trained in London and Paris. Edwards encounters enmity and resentment on his first day at The Knick - but his desire to remain prevails after joining Thackery, Everett, Dr. Bertie Chickering Jr. and Nurse Lucy Elkins in the operating theater for a daring surgical procedure.