Paris, 1885. Charcot's sensational experiments with hysterical cases are the talk of the town and Freud is much impressed. But the Frenchman's belief that the root of hysteria lies, invariably, in the genitals is greeted with scorn when Freud proclaims it in Vienna. Undaunted, in his treatment of the Baroness, Freud persists with Charcot's methods and Breuer's talking cure.