Recovering alcoholic Chuck Dederich opens a storefront drug rehabilitation program that gains a following through its confrontational talk-therapy approach. As the program attracts non-addicts and celebrity followers, Synanon expands across the country.
By the 1970s, Synanon boasts its own farm, a school, and multiple businesses, but Chuck’s utopian vision begins to crack. As members face more extreme edicts, many find themselves weighing the benefits and costs of the choices they’re forced to make.
As his behavior becomes increasingly abusive, Chuck turns Synanon’s school into a military-style bootcamp for delinquent children where corporal punishment abounds. Then, when his wife dies, Chuck quickly remarries and issues a shocking new directive.
When the Los Angeles Times reports on Synanon’s nine-day alleged abduction of Frances Winn, Chuck begins stockpiling guns and ammunition – and is accused of conspiracy to commit murder. Later, Chuck’s failing mental and physical health leads to the beginning of the end, as many adherents struggle to piece their lives together in the aftermath.
