The interference of Coulomb and nuclear excitation was studied by the scattering of 70.4-MeV '"-C ions from the stable even Nd nuclei {'"Nd, '"Nd, "Nd, '"Nd, " Nd), The differential cross sections for inelastic scattering from the low-lying 2+, 4+, 3, and 22+ states, as well as elastic scattering from these isotopes, were obtained. In addition, the cross sections for exciting the 2+ (4.43 MeV} state of the "C projectile and the 6 state in " Nd were also obtained. The differential cross sections for exciting low-lying collective states of the target and projectile are compared with distorted-wave Born-approximation and coupled-channels calculations. Standard distorted-wave Born-approximation calculations using known Coulomb matrix elements fail to fit the data. The coupled-channels analysis, however, can account for these data and reveals the importance of multistep processes in heavy ion reactions. NUC I,EAH gEAg~oNS 142, 144, 146, 148, 1xNd(12C 12C) (12' 12gr) g 70 4 Me measured o(g}. Deduced optical-model parameters in addition to p2 and p4 deformations by coupled-channel analyses. Enriched targets.