Will and Eleanor Lightbody live in Michigan. Eleanor is a big fan of psychotherapist John Harvey Kellogg who operates a sanitarium in Battle Creek. Will is an alcoholic with almost no willpower, but she drags him along to see the sanatorium. He is in recover from drug addiction. And, to make things worse, the couple recently miscarried a pregnancy. Although Eleanor hopes Kellogg can help, Will has reservations.
At the sanatorium, Will has a hard time adjusting. The healthy food makes his body shutter; he completely loses his appetite. Kellogg subjects the couple to laughter therapy, which freaks Will out. Will finds that his friend is also institutionalized here, and Will watches in horror as the friend is electrocuted during electro-shock therapy, done in a bathtub. Meanwhile, Eleanor finds the therapy quite restful. She especially enjoys Dr. Spitzvogel, who gives her "therapeutic erotic massages."
We meet Charlie Ossining, a product developer who works in cereal. Through business meetings with Dr. Kellogg's son, George Kellogg, Ossining hopes to establish a cereal distribution company. This alert's John Harvey Kellogg, the father, because of Kellogg's passion for experimental food and medicine. Will's hellish treatment continues until they poison him with Radium, and Eleanor continues becoming infatuated with her doctors who treat her unbelievably well, always.
