 Lawrence, Kansas 1970. McMurphy is now back in her home town and working as a stateside ward nurse at the local hospital while trying to make peace with her increasingly neurotic mother who does not approve of her fast, stressful lifestyle and bitterly tries to cling onto the past. But McMurphy soon finds that her experiences at China Beach hadn t prepared herself for her new job and her new life in general. A flashback to China Beach exactly three years earlier shows McMurphy reluctant to accept her birthday from Dr. Richard, Dodger, Boonie and others wanting to throw her a surprise party.