Alice Howland, a linguistics professor at Columbia University, celebrates her 50th birthday with her physician husband John and their three adult children. After she forgets a word during a lecture and becomes lost during a jog on campus, Alice's doctor diagnoses her with Early-onset Alzheimer's disease#Familial Alzheimer's disease. Alice's eldest daughter, Anna, and son, Tom, take a genetic test to find out if they will develop the disease. Alice's younger daughter Lydia, an aspiring actress, decides not to be tested.