This film reconstructs the true story of stockbroker William Griffith Wilson (James Woods), a World War I veteran whose small drinking problem becomes a serious addiction after he loses his fortune in the stock market collapse of 1929. Wilson's career and his domestic life are in tatters when he meets Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith (James Garner), also struggling with a drinking problem. The two form a support group that becomes the basis for the organization Alcoholics Anonymous.