Today, Mel Divan is a successful American businessman with a terminal illness. But long ago he was a notorious criminal who escaped from a mental institution in Communist Armenia. With the rise of capitalism, Mel returns to Armenia to fulfill a promise to deliver the reward for theft from him to the widow of a fellow thief. Mel plans to spend just enough time in Armenia to track down the widow. But nostalgia and fate drive him, as the very mental institution he escaped from is now up for auction. Mel buys it and finds refuge in the administration of the mental hospital while he lives among its eclectic residents, helping each one in his own unique way. Mel will live out his last days as a saint as long as he can stabilize himself one step ahead of the head psychiatrist and a local mob boss.