One in ten of the population is likely to spend some time in a mental institution, and yet fear and ignorance about mental illness are as widespread as ever. A mental hospital resonates with the ' ultimate' questions which most of us are able to keep safely buried, as we strive to lead a ' normal, balanced' life. This film offers an inside look at a ward in Fulbourn Hospital, Cambridge, which has long had a reputation for its radical approach. Their aim is to involve the patients in making decisions about their own problems, rather than simply drugging them into orderly behaviour and submission. The film is a portrait of how patients and staff confront despair and how they work to find a path through it.