A young girl arrives at the office of Sigmund Freud with symptoms that have baffled the best medical minds in Vienna. During a lengthy psychoanalysis, a mysterious dream surfaces that contributes to a cure although Freud, for reasons of his own, deliberately fails to pursue the dream's deeper meaning . The heroine, Emma, subsequently journeys to America to attend Vassar College, then returns to Vienna after graduation only to find herself in an arranged marriage. Her efforts to escape an oppressive relationship marked by instances of sexual bondage plunge her into a series of intrigues involving Carl Jung, the artist Gustav Klimt and her former analyst before she discovers how Freud's failure to fully interpret the dream altered the course of her life.