本片根据纽约市的英籍神经医师奥利佛·萨克斯(Oliver Sacks)的同名回忆录改编。1969年,羞怯内向但对实验充满热忱的脑科医生马尔科姆·塞尔(罗宾·威廉姆斯 Robin Williams 饰)来到纽约市布朗克斯区一家医院,对院内的强直性昏厥证患者进行治疗。在护士埃莉诺(朱莉·卡夫娜 Julie Kavner 饰)的帮助和鼓励下,塞尔医生对病人大胆用药,使一群昏厥几十年的患者重获新生,尤其对患者伦纳德·洛(罗伯特·德尼罗 Robert De Niro)效果尤为明显。但令人意外的是,患者们在苏醒后不久,又纷纷出现了病情恶化的趋势……
本片获奥斯卡最佳影片、最佳男主角(罗伯特·德尼罗)和最佳改编剧本奖提名,并获金球奖剧情类影片最佳男主角提名(罗宾·威廉姆斯)
Desperate to experience true emotion, a young woman, CARYS, regularly attends the funerals of strangers. But she's unprepared for the secrets she must keep and the lies she must tell when, at one fateful wake, she falls for TYLER, who is mourning his fiancée. As Carys allows herself to experience love for the first time, she begins to fear that perhaps her fascination with death might lead to her own untimely demise...