Quincy was a man with a strong sense of principle. He had given up a lucrative private medical practice to join the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office as a medical examiner. His understanding of forensic medicine led him to conclude that many of the supposed "normal" deaths that he was assigned to investigate were actually murders. Whenever this happened, Quincy tended to resemble a detective more than a pathologist, as he sought evidence to prove his contentions. These wanderings out of his field into the province of the police did not endear Quincy to Dr. Astin, his vacuous, pompous, and insecure superior. It also alienated many of the police officers who were involved in the investigations and got in the way of his social life, much to the consternation of his girlfriend, Lee. None of this seemed to bother Quincy, however, as he and his young assistant Sam plugged away at solving the cases. Quincy lived on a boat and spent much of his free time at Danny's Place, the bar adjacent to the marina where the boat was docked.