Alice Howland is a brilliant linguistics professor at Columbia University who, at the age of 50, leads a fulfilling life with a successful career and a loving family composed of her husband John and their three children, who seem to be on the path to a promising future. But everything changes when she begins to experience episodes of forgetfulness and confusion, prompting her to seek medical help. After a series of tests, she receives the devastating diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's, a type of dementia that affects much younger individuals.