 In Berkeley, California in 1988, Mark O'Brien is a poet who is forced to live in an iron lung due to complications from polio. Due to his condition, he has never had sex. After unsuccessfully proposing to his caretaker Amanda, and sensing he may be near death, he decides he wants to lose his virginity. After consulting his priest, Father Brendan, he gets in touch with Cheryl Cohen-Greene, a professional sex surrogate. She tells him they will have no more than six sessions together. They begin their sessions, but soon it is clear that they are developing romantic feelings for each other. Cheryl's husband, who loves her deeply, fights to suppress his jealousy, at first withholding a love poem that Mark has sent by mail to Cheryl, which she eventually finds. After several attempts, Mark and Cheryl are able to have mutually satisfying sex, but decide to cut the sessions short on account of their burgeoning feelings.
One day sometime later, the power goes out in the building in which Mark lives, causing the iron lung to stop functioning and making it necessary for Mark to be rushed to the hospital. However, he survives and meets Susan Fernbach, a young woman with whom the audience senses he will finally find happiness. The film then cuts to Mark's funeral, held sometime later, and attended by four of the women he came to know and care for, including Cheryl. Father Brendan gives the homily and Susan reads the poem he had previously sent Cheryl.
What is the name of the woman Mark meets at the hospital? What is Cheryl's husband hiding from her? What is Mark's vocation? What disease causes him to live inside an iron lung? What is Cheryl's job? What does Susan read at Mark's funeral? What is the name of Mark's priest? In what city does the story take place? Where does the protagonist Mark O'Brien live? What medical device does Mark live inside? What machine is Mark confined to? What is Amanda's relationship to Mark? Where does Mark meet Susan? Why does the iron lung stop working? Why do Mark and Cheryl stop their sessions? What does Cheryl Cohen-Greene agree to help Mark lose? What disease did Mark have? What does Mark O'Brien do for a living? What is Cheryl Cohen-Greene's profession? With whom does Mark consult morally before embarking on having sex? How does Cheryl's husband find out about Mark and Cheryl's romance? How many sex sessions does Cheryl agree to have with Mark? Who is Cheryl Cohen-Greene? Why is Mark rushed to the hospital? What human experience has Mark never partaken of?