Clean and Sober 1988

Daryl Poynter [Michael Keaton] is a successful but self-destructive Philadelphia real estate salesman who struggles with addiction to cocaine and alcohol. He embezzles $92,000 from his company’s escrow account and spends $52,000 of it on cocaine and risky stock moves. One morning he wakes up beside a woman who has suffered a heart attack from a cocaine overdose, and he tries to cover up their drug use. The police, however, make it clear that they know what happened.

Fearing arrest for the woman’s death and for the embezzlement, Daryl heads to the airport to flee the country, but his credit card is declined and he has no cash. His colleague Martin Laux Brian Benben refuses to put him up for a few weeks, leaving Daryl to face the consequences alone.

Daryl then hears about a drug rehabilitation program on the radio that lasts about a month and promises anonymity, so he checks in, hoping to hide there. In that environment, he meets Craig Morgan Freeman, a tough but supportive drug rehabilitation counselor. With his guidance, Craig helps Daryl confront the reality that he is an addict and that his life has spiraled into chaos. He imparts a guiding maxim: > The best way to break old habits is to make new ones.

At a 12-step meeting, Daryl tries to find sponsors among eligible women, but they turn him down. He then encounters Richard Dirks M. Emmet Walsh, an older, reformed addict who agrees to act as his sponsor in Alcoholics Anonymous. While discussing Step 4, Richard nudges Daryl toward confessing his embezzlement to his employer. Daryl agrees, but he tries to shoulder the blame onto the dead woman from the night he spent with her. The employer fires him, and Daryl escapes significant legal liability only by the skin of his teeth.

Daryl becomes drawn to a fellow patient, Charlie Standers Kathy Baker, a steel foundry worker whose own life is tangled in alcoholism and cocaine addiction. Charlie is trapped in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend, Lenny, another addict who manipulates her. Daryl falls in love with Charlie and urges her to leave Lenny; he eventually persuades her to go, only to see Lenny win her back through manipulation.

Genuinely concerned for Charlie’s welfare, Daryl tries to stay involved in her life in the hope she stays sober. After another fight with Lenny, Charlie leaves the house, relapses with cocaine, and dies in a car accident. In the wake of her death, Daryl feels a powerful pull toward returning to drugs. He visits Richard, who talks him out of that urge and reminds him that addicts cannot shoulder responsibility for someone else’s life.

A month later, a changed but hopeful Daryl accepts his 30 Day Sobriety Coin in front of a gathered audience of fellow AA members, signaling a renewed commitment to his own recovery and a quieter, more grounded future.