This pseudo-biographical movie depicts 5 years from 1885 on in the live of the Viennan psychologist Freud (1856-1939). At this time, most of his colleagues refuse to cure hysteric patients, because they believe they're just simulating to gain attention. But Freud learns to use hypnosis to find out the reasons for the psychosis. His main patient is a young woman who refuses to drink water and is plagued by always the same nightmare.

In 1885, 30-year-old neurologist Dr. Sigmund Freud quarrels with his superior, Professor Theodore Meynert, over the nature of hysteria and takes a leave of absence from the Vienna General Hospital. In Paris, he studies under Professor Charcot, a pioneer in the use of hypnosis to demonstrate that disease can be mentally induced. Following his marriage to Martha Bernays, Freud becomes the protégé of Dr. Joseph Breuer, another advocate of hypnotism, and together they treat Cecily Koertner, a semi-paralyzed young woman who also suffers from insomnia and impaired vision. As a result of his sessions with both Cecily and Carl von Schlosser, a young man who assaulted his father because of an incestuous love for his mother, Freud determines that all neuroses stem from repressed sexuality. His revolutionary theory, partially based upon his own childhood recollections, offends the entire medical profession, including Breuer. Nevertheless, Freud continues experimenting with Cecily and eventually drops hypnosis in favor of a new technique, "free association," in which he is able to analyze her dreams and interpret the meaning of chance remarks she makes during their conversations. As Cecily's mental health gradually improves, Freud develops his theory of the Oedipus complex and delivers a lecture on the subject; his colleagues react with derisive shouts, but psychoanalysis is born.