Pound centers on the iconic poet Ezra Pound's remaining days at St. Elizabeth's Psychiatric Hospital, where the 73-year-old is confronted by Ann Polley, a young psychiatrist who aspires to help the man who has been labeled incurable. Pound dismisses her, as he has done with previous psychiatrists, but when he learns of his imminent release, he experiences an inexplicable dread that drives him to Ann for help.