Manhattan 1936, East Side. Don Birnam is drinking. The writer has long reached the point where one drink is too many and a hundred are not enough. Barely back on his feet since his last crash, he successfully resists all attempts by his brother Wick to persuade him to spend a long weekend in the country, and stays alone in their shared apartment for five days. There, fate takes its course: Don drinks, gets money, loses it, finds new money, ends up in an alcohol treatment facility, and continues to drink. Wavering between euphoria and despair, self-awareness and self-deception, inspiration and panic, clear thinking and deep confusion, Don increasingly falls into delirium.