As a child piano prodigy David Helfgott's musical ambitions generate friction with his overbearing father Peter. When Helfgott travels to London on a musical scholarship his career as a pianist blossoms. However the pressures of his newfound fame coupled with the echoes of his tumultuous childhood conspire to bring Helfgott's latent schizophrenia boiling to the surface and he spends years in and out of various mental institutions.