Almost 20 years after their teenage son Gabriel ran away from home, Henry and Helen Sawyer learn that he has turned up in a hospital. Although benign, a brain tumor has damaged his memory, rendering past and present indistinguishable. Sensing that Gabriel responds to music, Henry seeks out a music therapist , who discovers that when Gabriel listens to the rock music he loved-The Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, Buffalo Springfield-he reengages with the world.