This is a dramatic exploration of the life and works of Franz Schubert. Featuring excerpts from many of his compositions, the central narrative occurs during Schubert' s hospitalization for syphilis, the contraction of which was both a consequence of his darker inclinations and a spur to some of his greatest work. As the doctors diagnose Schubert's symptoms, identify their cause and administer treatment, the composer conducts his own internal imaginative examination, a sometimes delirious and dreamlike evocation of the moments and music from his past life. The characters he recalls are his maverick friend and Svengali , Franz von Schober, his authoritarian father, his illustrious but conformist patron Michael Vogl and his unfulfilled love Karoline Esterhazy.