Jessica Shephard is living the Southern California dream. She is young, healthy, has great friends and family, a promising career and always knows how to get a laugh. Then, without warning, she begins to suffer from mysterious episodes of partial and total paralysis. Soon she's bouncing from doctor to doctor, none of whom can fathom what's wrong with her despite a barrage of medical tests. Some imply she's malingering or that it's ?all in her head.? Her illness profoundly changes her relationship with her boyfriend Fernando, a young doctor who joins in the hunt for a diagnosis; her anxious mother and stepfather; her friends and co-workers. Sometimes with their help, sometimes with their hindrance, she struggles to remain independent?to work, drive and care for herself. Her lifestyle and job are in jeopardy, and her very life is threatened. Eventually, she realizes that her laughter is as involved in her disease as it is in her life.