Maggie Gyllenhaal and Hugh Dancy star in this offbeat and very amusing romantic comedy about the invention of thevibrator in Victorian England. Based on a true story, HYSTERIA is set in 1880, and follows Mortimer Granville (Dancy), a young doctor disillusioned by his colleagues' medieval practices. He starts working for Dr Dalrymple, who treats cases of the female ailment commonly known as hysteria by offering them intimate manual relief. Demand becomesso great that Dalrymple and Mortimer cannot keep up with 'curing' women. To keep Mortimer working, Dalrymple promises him his business, and the hand of his beautiful young daughter. But when Mortimer falls for Dalrymple's older daughter, the feisty thirty-year feminist (Gyllenhaal) who runs a women's refuge in east London, his future looksdoubtful. In desperation, he invents a machine that will at least solve his medical challenges - the world's first vibrator.