Paul Sheldon was sick of Misery Chastain. Yes, she had paid the bills and him famous, but she had also drained his creativity, turned him into a drudge. So he had killed her. Her death in „Misery's Child” made it the last Misery Chastain novel that Paul would ever have to write.

In a surge of newfound enthusiasm, Paul had then started a new book, a novel of quite a different kind, called „Fast Cars”. He had been calebrating the completion of this manuscript when the accident happened.

Now Paul lies in bed, his legs smashed, his body racked by terrible pain. He has woken up, not in hospital, but in the isolated Colorado home of Annie Wilkes, the woman who pulled him from the wreck of his car.

Annie is a former nurse. She also happens to be Paul's Number One Fan. She has read all his books. She gives him painkillers and loves to fuss over him. Until, that is, she buys a copy of the newly published „Misery's Child”.

When Annie Wilkes finds out what Paul has done to Misery, she is not happy with her patient. Not happy at all. In Annie's nursery parlance, Paul is behaving like a „Don't-Bee”. In order to turn him into a „Do-Bee”, she buys him typewriter and paper and tells him to bring Misery back to life. Paul may not want to do it, but Annie seems to be holding all the cards - not to mention the drugs, the axe and the blowtorch...