Instead of going to jail, Gwen is sentenced to 28 Days in a rehabilitation centre. The first thing they do when she gets there is take her cellphone and other personal belongings away. They have their rules, and of course it's for her own good, but she gets rather angry about it. After all, she hasn't even hurt anyone so why does she have to be here in this feel-good hug-happy hole where she can't even get a martini for God's sake? She tells her counsellor Cornell (played by Steve Buscemi) that she only drinks because she wants to, not because she has a problem. She can stop any time she wants to stop, honest.
I'm not sure what the film thinks of the rehab centre, but I found it a little spooky at first, and even if you're familiar with the holistic approach, it seems that in America at least there's a little too much emphasis on hugging and using 'feeling words'. It made me cringe at times, but it's clearly a better place to be than prison. Of course, it has its share of strange characters, most of whom have substance abuse problems of some kind. Gwen's roommate is a 17 year old heroine addict who has a charming habit of cutting herself to "ease the pain". Then there's Gerhardt, an odd and strangely emotional chap who has a very funny scene where he talks about forks. Among the others, there's a doctor who once accidentally gave himself an emergency operation, and a baseball player who Gwen begins a kind of romance with.
After 28 days of drying out, Gwen leaves and goes back to the city where of course she sees her boyfriend in a new light. Is this to be a happy ending? I'll leave you to decide for yourselves.