A renowned professor is forced to reassess her life when she is diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer.

Based on the Margaret Edson play, Vivian Bearing (Dame Emma Thompson) is a literal, hardnosed English professor who has been diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. During the story, she reflects on her reactions to the cycle the cancer takes, the treatments, and significant events in her life. The people that watch over her are Dr. Jason Posner (Jonathan M. Woodward), who only finds faith in being a doctor; Susie Monahan (Audrey McDonald), a nurse with a human side that is the only one in the hospital that cares for Vivian's condition; and Dr. Harvey Kelekian (Christopher Lloyd), the head doctor who just wants results no matter what they are.—Pat McCurry <[email protected]>

Professor Vivian Bearing (Dame Emma Thompson), an expert on the work of seventeenth century British poet John Donne, has spent her adult life contemplating religion and death as literary motifs. Diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer, she consents to an aggressive and experimental form of chemotherapy administered by Dr. Harvey Kelekian (Christopher Lloyd) and his assistant, Dr. Jason Posner (Jonathan M. Woodward), her former student. Facing death on a personal level, she reflects on her life and work.—Jwelch5742

Vivian Bearing (Dame Emma Thompson), a demanding and uncompromising professor of seventeenth century English poetry specializing in the holy sonnets of John Donne, is diagnosed with advanced (stage 4) metastatic ovarian cancer. Being an academic, she treats the news with a certain matter-of-factness much like she would her own research. Indeed, her medical team - the renowned Dr. Harvey Kelekian (Christopher Lloyd) and his fellow, Dr. Jason Posner (Jonathan M. Woodward), who happens to be an ex-student of hers - do treat her solely like a research experiment, with a "live at all costs" mentality. The doctors recommend an experimental treatment of aggressive chemotherapy, to which she agrees. In part out of her own choice, but in part out of her own personal circumstances, she decides to go through the treatment alone. But as her treatment progresses, she wishes she had some more truly caring human interaction from people who see her as a person, and not just a research experiment.—Huggo