A Portland couple have two children with Pompe disease, a genetic anomaly that kills before a child's tenth birthday. The husband, John, who's in advertising, contacts Robert Stonehill, a researcher who has a theory on an enzyme treatment. He has little money to pursue his research, and a thorny personality that drives away colleagues and funders. John and his wife Aileen raise money for to get Stonehill going, then John takes on the task full time, working with venture capitalists and then a rival team of researchers. Time is passing, Stonehill's antics get in the way, and the profit motive may upend John's hopes. Can the researchers succeed in time for the Crowley's.