Beautiful Dreamers

The superintendent of the London insane asylum, Dr. Maurice Bucke, despairs of the treatment methods in use during the Victorian era, which consist essentially of restraint and electroshock. At a conference in Philadelphia, he makes the acquaintance of poet Walt Whitman.

This meeting will radically change his life, and that of his wife and patients. Whitman, who travels to London at Bucke's invitation, has avant-garde ideas about mental illness, sexuality, the emotions and life in general--ideas that are profoundly humanistic and enlightened.

This film is based on historical events.