Norah Vincent's bestselling book of investigative journalism, Self-Made Man, ended on a harrowing note. Suffering from severe depression after her eighteen months living disguised as a man, Vincent felt she was a danger to herself. On the advice of her psychologist, she committed herself to a mental institution.

Vincent's new journey takes her from a big-city public hospital to a private facility in the Midwest and finally to an upscale retreat down south as she analyzes the impact of institutionalization on the unwell, the tyranny of drugs as treatment, and the dysfunctional dynamics between caregivers and patients.