For thirty years Ettie Burin led friends to believe she was a widow. The truth comes out when her husband dies in 1995, and her elder daughter plans a public funeral.

Ettie and her family share memories during the mourning period, re-creating struggles to escape from physical oppression in czarist Russia and later from the stigma of mental illness. Personal revelations force Ettie and her children to come to grips with the past and break the silence surrounding the mental illness that has shaped their relationships with the outside world.

Surprising events and courageous actions during...