Based on the true story of Bill W. (James Woods), a successful stock broker whose life falls apart after the stock crash of the 20's and how he comes to grips with his alcoholism. Along with a fellow alcoholic (James Garner) he forms a support group that would eventually become Alcoholics Anonymous.This film reconstructs the true story of stockbroker William Griffith Wilson, a World War I veteran whose small drinking problem becomes a serious addiction after he loses his fortune in the stock market collapse of 1929. Wilson's career and his domestic life are in tatters when he meets Dr. Robert Holbrook Smith also struggling with a drinking problem. The two form a support group that becomes the basis for the organization Alcoholics Anonymous.