The life-affirming true story of an unexpected collusion formed during a fight for patient rights against seemingly impossible odds. When Eleanor Riese discovers that the medication she is being given at St. Mary's Psychiatric Hospital in San Francisco is damaging her physically, she hires patients' rights lawyer Collette Hughes. With the help of expert attorney Mort Cohen, the two try to defeat St. Mary's in court while the indefatigable Eleanor and Collette become best of friends - a friendship in which the colourful psychiatric patient Eleanor teaches the work-obsessed Collette a thing or two about life itself.