Inspired by both Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and the career of the late neurosurgeon, Stephen Burstein, MD, The Doctor's Tale was written as a high school project by Rachel Brisman, with help from her father Michael Brisman, a neurosurgeon from Long Island, New York. The book tells the story of an elderly fox and a farm healer named J. Wellington Moore, who is known to the other animals living in the farm as Dr. Moore. For years, he has helped them with their illnesses, both physical and emotional. When Dr. Moore decides to retire, he picks two young candidates from among the farm's animals to compete for the position of apprentice to succeed him. The candidates, a young pig named Penelope Carington and a peacock named Bradley Proudstone, each attempt to apply Dr. Moore's uniquely compassionate and insightful clinical expertise to help other animals. They also try to learn how to use Dr. Moore's magical liquid medicine. Only one succeeds. The book explains, in the words of Dr. Moore, that "medicine is about studying, hard work, and caring for people. And sometimes, people need to think there's a little magic in the world, something to give them hope and the extra strength they need to heal."