For most of us, the Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California, has been a mysterious, almost mythical place where the rich and famous went to be cured. Elizabeth Taylor, Liza Minelli, Tony Curtis, Mary Tyler Moore, and Robert Mitchum are only a few of the Betty Ford Center's celebrated alumni.

When writer Barnaby Conrad checked into the Center, he knew that time was running out for him. Now he brings us a riveting personal account of the thirty days that changed—and saved—his life and an intimate look into the secrets of the most famous drug and alcohol treatment center in the world.