When a likable binge-drinking high school science teacher is sentenced by his wife to a strict Catholic rehab center, he must rebel against authority and religion to find his "off switch” and return to his family.

SYNOPSIS:

On the outside, EVAN DOHERTY is one of us: an amiable, intelligent, 28-year-old science teacher in Southern California. On the inside, his tortured soul has hidden a binge-drinking problem for years from his wife, MARY, a reformed alcoholic and devout Catholic, and loving stepdaughter, MARTIE (12). Evan stops at Flannigan’s Pub, three nights per week ‘just to be sociable,’ as the Irish would say. He can handle two or three drinks with no problem at all—but Evan doesn’t have an ‘Off-Switch.’ One February night in 2001, Evan is so sociable that he passes out. Mary carts Evan’s body to a four-week program at St. Michael the Archangel’s Alcohol Rehabilitation Center in Lancaster. His troubles are just beginning.

Evan is slow to realize that alcoholism is only his first nemesis. His wife and old FATHER FRANCIS of St. Michael’s insist that Evan renounce atheism and convert to Catholicism, if he wants to return home after treatment. Then, Evan meets his greatest nemesis—the iron-fisted manager of St. Michael’s, C.C. CHAPMAN. She’s a strict disciplinarian and recovering alcoholic, who doesn’t like witty intellectuals.

Evan receives medical help from two staff members. An ancient resident physician, DOC HESTER, a recovering addict, sees himself in Evan. Substitute counselor, Dr. MARIE SANCHEZ laments the slim odds of recovery. Despite her constant pot-smoking, she is a breath of fresh air. Evan reluctantly trudges through the recovery program with his assigned buddy, PONCH, a simple-minded house painter, and a host of alcoholics from every walk of life, including a gorgeous, ex-high school student. Temptation is an ever-present demon at St. Michael’s.

On the surface, well-intentioned discipline trumps much needed compassion, and personal ideologies collide with long-held beliefs to complicate the treatment of a common disease. On a deeper level, the story investigates the societal costs of immediate gratification, and an ancient resistance of human beings to change (in many important ways). Evan discovers the power of ‘keeping your loved ones in your head’—as the key to his “Off Switch.” His internal powers, his wits, triumph over demons and return him to the family he loves.

OFF SWITCH