Bertram Reiner, a charismatic and brilliant man diagnosed with a severe case of Battle Fatigue is treated by Dr. Harrison, the distinguished and steadfast head of the hospital, finds the most challenging patient of his career.
Their sessions leave Dr. Harrison slipping into a frightening, but also strangely enlivening twilight existence that renders the boundaries between sanity and insanity disquietingly blurred. When Dr. Harrison discovers that Bertram is having an affair with Matilda, the head nurse, who he himself has feelings for, his own state of yearning rises and throws his sanity into the balance.