Believing it will be more comfortable than jail, a prisoner fakes insanity so he'll be transferred to a mental institution. But he finds that the hospital is run with an iron fist by a domineering nurse. Flexing his individualist style, he causes trouble for the staff and attempts to breathe life back into the submissive patients. After her tyrannical rule drives one of the patients to suicide, he attacks the nurse. Punished for this behavior, a friend helps to end his pain before seeking his own freedom.