An all-star cast enlivens this new adaptation of Mary Chase's hilarious Pulitzer Prize? winning comedy, led by Harry Anderson in the role of its unlikely hero, Elwood P. Dowd. This mild-mannered-but-eccentric bachelor has, for several years, happily kept company with Harvey, a six-foot-tall rabbit that only he can see. All's well until Elwood's social-climbing sister, Veta, (Swoosie Kurtz) and her teenage daughter, Myrtle Mae, come to live with him and fear his odd behavior will undermine their ambitions.
When Dr. Chumley (Leslie Nielsen), head of the rest home, returns and hears of the case, he draws the opposite conclusion-that Elwood in fact hallucinates. After firing Sanderson for his misdiagnosis, Dr. Chumley sets out in pursuit of Elwood, completely forgetting poor Veta, who is left to manage her own escape from confinement in the home!