"55 Steps" is based a the inspiring true story of Eleanor Riese, a mental illness patient herself, who brings a class action suit to give competent mental patients the right to have a say in their medication while they're in a hospital, and Colette Hughes, the lawyer appointed to her case.

Eleanor's fight for justice goes all the way up to the Supreme Court of California, and, despite a stormy start and Eleanor's difficult personality, in the process Eleanor and Colette develop a deep friendship that benefits Colette as much as it does Eleanor.