Paul Sheldon used to write for a living. Now he''s writing to stay alive. Misery Chastain is dead. Paul Sheldon has just killed her - with relief, with joy. Misery made him rich; she was the heroine of a string of bestsellers. And now he wants to get on to some real writing. That''s when the car accident happens, and he wakes up splinted and in pain, in the remote mountain home of his rescuer, Annie Wilkes. The good news is that Annie was a nurse and has pain-killing drugs. The bad news is that she has long been Paul''s Number One Fan. And when she finds out what Paul has done to Misery, she doesn''t like it. She doesn''t like it at all . . .