The inhabitants of the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Research Station at Antarctica are known as "Polies". They live in almost total darkness for nine months of the year, in temperatures as low as 100 degrees below zero, with no way in or out before the spring. This is Jerri Nielsen's account of her one year sabbatical there. She was the physician for 41 researchers, construction workers and support staff, and it was her job to keep the "Polies" mentally and physically fit in a hostile environment.