Nine months later, hitchhiking along a snowbound Vermont highway, Starks helps a mother and her daughter start a stalled pick-up truck. He continues hitchhiking, and is picked up by a station wagon driven by a young man headed for the Canadian border. Shortly afterward, the car is pulled over by the police and Starks blacks out. When he awakens, he finds himself on trial for murder in a small town court.

Found guilty by reason of insanity, Starks is committed to Alpine Grove, a state institution for the criminally insane. There begins a jarring experiment by a Dr. Becker (Kris Kristofferson) that reveals some of the mysteries in his life. Keira Knightly plays the love interest. Jennifer Jason Leigh also stars as a doctor who helps. The story goes back and forth into the future and then the past and is very disturbing. This is an interesting premise but a little too crazy for me.