Re-creation of an actual course of therapy, with details changed to preserve confidentiality. Shows therapist and teacher Erving Polster in counseling sessions with Gerald: bright, cynical, emotionally detached, overly-intellectual, and seemingly determined to defeat this therapist as he has previous ones. In numerous vignettes over the course of treatment, Polster engages Gerald in interactions, matching wits, joining him with humor, and challenging his defenses with a balance of confrontation and empathy. With occasional voiceover commentary by Miriam Polster.