Plot

What will it take to cure your most dreaded disease? A pound of flesh? A genius mind? How about the ability to wrangle with family.

Three women at risk of developing Alzheimer's join a groundbreaking study to try to prevent the disease, while sharing their ups and downs, anxiously watching for symptoms, and hoping they can make a difference. Barb, Sigrid, and Karen all had mothers with Alzheimer's and witnessed first hand the devastation wrought by the disease, not only on the mind and body, but on patients' families. Now, they are all participating in a major study that tracks the health and memory of thousands of people over many years, as researchers hunt for life-style changes and medicines that could improve all our chances and ultimately protect the brain and body from one of the world's deadliest diseases.—NOVA

Three women at high risk for Alzheimer's disease offer their brains and bodies to a medical study. After the deaths of their mothers, these daughters are determined to contribute to the search for a cure. With courage and humor, this is the latest fight against Alzheimer's - by those with a very personal stake in the battle.

Filmed in an observational style with supplementary interviews, the film follows women from contrasting communities in Wisconsin over five years. Barb and her large family take turns caring for their dying mother in a rural corner of the state. In Milwaukee, Karen struggles to raise her adolescent son after her own mother's passing. Meanwhile, Sigrid, a retiree in a college town, focuses full-time on adopting a lifestyle that she believes can stave off the disease, much to her husband's dismay. Each woman visits the research site regularly and undergoes rigorous physical and cognitive tests with researchers on the front lines.

Sigrid participates in the Exercise Study led by Dr. Ozioma Okonkwo. Okonkwo proposes: Is there a relationship between physical activity and Alzheimer's biomarkers? He conducts a series of experiments. Results unfold on camera. Using the human subjects, the scientists learn some of the most important findings in the field today.

With nuance and tenderness, the film interweaves the scientists' quest to find a cure with the personal ups and downs of these women's lives. The intimate access to all of their stories reminds viewers that Alzheimer's is a disease battled on many fronts: in a laboratory, in a home, in a marriage, in a mind, and in one's hopes and fears about the future.