It's 1967 and 17-year-old Susanna Kaysen is like a lot of American teenagers her age- confused, insecure, struggling to make sense of the radiply changing world around her. The psychiatrist she meets with (courtesy of her parents), however, gives this behavior a name- Borderline Personality Disorder, 'manifested by uncertainty about self-image, long-term goals, types of friends or lovers to have and which values to adopt'- and whisks her away to Claymoore Hospital. Here, Susanna discovers Lisa, Daisy, Georgina, Polly and Janet- a group of offbeat young women who not only become her closest friends, but light Susanna's way back to something she had lost- herself.