The dead of night, New York City, 1887. Twenty-three-year-old Nellie Bly stares into a mirror, unblinking, eyes forced open as wide as possible. After she loses track of time, she moves away, reads an unnerving ghost story in dim gaslight, then returns to the mirror, eyes bulging, this time practicing deranged facial contortions. The purpose of this bizarre nocturnal ritual? To prepare herself to hoodwink the city's top doctors into deeming her incurably...