A family brings their daughter to the emergency room at midnight because she has been cutting herself and talking about wanting to die. They sit in the waiting room among people with physical ailments, their daughter's distress visible but her wounds invisible, waiting hours to be seen. When finally assessed, she is placed on a stretcher in a hallway because there are no psychiatric beds available. She waits there for two days, receiving minimal treatment, her parents taking turns sitting with her, everyone wondering whether this is helping or harming.