Randle Patrick McMurphy is transferred from the prison farm to a mental institution for evaluation.

He imagines it will be a breeze, but he does not factor in Nurse Ratched who runs the ward.

She keeps her patients cowed through medication, electroconvulsive therapy and abuse.

There follows a battle of wills between the rebellious McMurphy and the inflexible Ratched which is hilarious, herioc and tragic.

by Dale Wasserman from the book by Ken Kesey