Have A Heart is mostly set in New York from 1998-2001, ending a few months after 9/11. The three main protagonists include: Anna, a famous Russian ballerina; Ali, a brilliant heart doctor, the head of the heart transplant program at a New York Medical Center; and Nancy, Ali's wife who dies on 9/11. It is the month of May, the year, 1998, the place, Lincoln Center. Ali and his mother attend the premiere of the ballet Swan Lake at the Metropolitan Opera House, where Anna, the Russian ballerina, is making her American Ballet Theatre debut as Odette/Odile. While dancing in the ballet, suddenly and unexpectedly, Anna, the Swan Queen, collapses, and the story begins. The next day, Dr. Ali is called to consult on Anna. He finds her in heart failure due to weakness of her heart muscle. Anna undergoes a barrage of tests and is crushed that her dancing days are over. During Anna's hospital stay, and subsequently, Anna and Ali, take a liking to each other and when her heart condition improves, they became lovers. However, her relapse into heart failure and their cultural differences: her atheism, his Muslim faith, her insecurity stemming from her illness and a previous marriage to a homosexual, ruptures their relationship. They maintain a doctor-patient relationship, however. Several months later, Ali meets Nancy, an investment analyst who works at the World Trade Center. He remains torn for his concern for Anna's health and his blossoming relationship with Nancy. In Have A Heart, Gomes explores the intertwined romantic and professional lives of three individuals, a torpid romance between a patient, Anna, and her doctor, Ali, the clash of cultures, the political upheavals of our times, the tribulations of waiting for a heart transplant, and the search for inner truth.
