Jim Burton has become a chronic alcoholic since the death of his young daughter, and is cared for by his hard-working wife. A doctor's warning that Jim could become mentally ill strikes enough fear into him that he really wants to cure himself, but he can't. One night, he meets William Tobin, a fellow drunk, and finds that he helps himself by trying to help Tobin. Thus is born, amid setbacks, a group resembling Alcoholics Anonymous.