Paulie Cooper (Diana Ross) is a promising medical student who becomes afflicted with severe paranoid schizophrenia. For 17 years, Paulie struggles with the condition, being hospitalized dozens of times, exhausting the efforts of her mother (Ann Weldon) to keep her healthy and safe. Finally, an experimental drug is able to bring Paulie back from the precipice of insanity, but, as she returns to her medical studies, she is confronted by people's fears and prejudices regarding her illness.