The film recounts the true story of Dr. Dennis Slamon Harry Connick Jr., a physician-scientist at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, who leads a bold push to develop a breast cancer drug called Herceptin that he believes could transform patient outcomes. Over a span of eight years, from 1988 to 1996, he and his team test the drug’s potential, navigating scientific uncertainty, patient hopes, and the mounting pressure of results. When a major drug company temporarily halts funding, the project finds critical life support from philanthropic figures, including Lilly Tartikoff Angie Harmon and Ronald Perelman, whose generosity helps keep the research alive. An initial donation from Perelman’s Revlon charity seeds ongoing work, and the effort gains momentum through ongoing fundraising, most notably via the Fire and Ice Ball organized by Tartikoff, which keeps the scientific flashlight shining on a possible breakthrough.
The therapy’s path forward is pragmatic and painstaking: the drug company eventually resumes backing the research, and Herceptin advances through three clinical trials following a preclinical animal study that tests safety and potential impact before touching human patients. Nicole Tammy Blanchard, a young mother facing stage 4 cancer, becomes the first patient to receive the drug, a moment witnessed closely by her mother Elizabeth Swoosie Kurtz who pleads with Slamon for her daughter’s inclusion. Though Nicole does not participate in the later trials because she does not meet certain criteria, her experience helps frame the ongoing discussion about who should access the therapy and under what conditions.
As the trials unfold, the women involved form a resilient, supportive community. They approach their disease with humor—Tish Jennifer Coolidge lightens the mood—while others pursue alternative therapies, such as Tina Trudie Styler. The narrative also follows the parallel journeys of Barbara Bradfield Bernadette Peters and Ellie Jackson Regina King, tracing their experiences from diagnosis through treatment and, in many cases, recovery. While some trial participants die along the way, the collective effort drives advances that ultimately reshape the course of breast cancer treatment and offer new hope to countless patients.
