Eleven years in the making, Patti Smith: Dream of Life is a unique and intimate portrait of the renowned singer, songwriter, poet and activist. Patti Smith's music, poetry, and politics are fearless, funny, raw, and original. A beautiful collage of images, memories and performances illuminate the complexities, and captures the essence, of this distinctive, legendary icon. The film follows Patti Smith's punk-icon roots in the 70s through the trials of daily life and untimely deaths that have formed her life and art. Smith tells the story of her early days in New York City and the people that are dearest to her including her late husband Fred Sonic Smith, Allen Ginsburg, Robert Mapplethorpe, and others, her family, and the political causes for which she so deeply struggled.