Lt. Colonel Frank Slade (Al Pacino) is a retired US army officer. He's completely blind and is found to be extremely hard to get on with.
Charlie Simms (Chris O'Donnell) is a student who is trying to raise some money to get home for christmas so agrees to take on the job of 'babysitting' Frank over the Thanksgiving holiday.
When Frank's niece is safely out of the way Frank decides to take himself and his new companion to New York for the weekend, a weekend that changes both their lives forever.
Al Pacino won an Oscar for his grandstanding lead performance in this film.