A Million Little Pieces is a memoir of addiction and recovery, authored by James Frey, who records the time he spends in a Minnesota Rehabilitation Clinic at age twenty-three. At the beginning of the book, Frey checks into the Clinic with intense dependency on alcohol and crack and soon after begins suffering withdrawal symptoms, including hallucinations and nausea.

He is missing his four front teeth, has a broken nose, and a hole in his cheek. He is also weak, thin, and malnourished. Dr. Baker resets James's broken nose and stitches his cheek closed, and makes an appointment for James to meet with a dentist in the near future, where he has incredibly painful dental surgery. Because he is a drug addict he cannot have any pain medication. Soon, James meets Lilly, another patient to whom he has an immediate attraction.

James moves into Sawyer Unit for...