How It All Goes Down
Charlie Gordon is a mentally disabled thirty-two-year-old man about to undergo a major elective surgery to improve his intelligence. We're basically reading his diary as he undergoes the whole process. Charlie doesn't have a whole lot of people rooting for him, but he does have an awesome teacher who wants him to succeed. That'd be Alice Kinnian, who puts Charlie up for the surgery in the first place.
Anyway, Charlie keeps busy in the days leading up to the surgery by working as a delivery boy at Donner's Bakery. The crew at Donner's Bakery is generally a rotten bunch, taunting Charlie and making life more difficult for the poor guy. Charlie believes that his nasty coworkers are his best friends, which just makes the situation more heartbreaking.
He also buddies up to super-smart Algernon, a mouse who's already undergone the experimental surgery. Charlie gets a taste of what's to come when he sees Algernon whizzing through experimental mazes and solving puzzles lickety-split… but when operation day finally arrives, Charlie doesn't transform into an insta-genius like he hoped.
Instead, he gets serious about hitting the books and turns into a major bookworm with Alice's help. And while Charlie's bakery "friends" think he's getting too big for his britches, he stays busy inventing ways to speed up production.
Charlie's not too absorbed in making doughnuts to notice Alice, though. Turns out teacher is way cuter than he ever realized, which makes him eager for some extra tutoring. Alice is a little wary about getting cozy with Charlie, but she's definitely got a major crush on her super-student. Charlie takes a cue from Biz Markie and keeps Alice as just a friend. After all, he's got plenty more to deal with on his plate.
Take the bakery goons, for example: Charlie's not cool with Gimpy stealing from his boss, Mr. Donner, but he sure as heck doesn't want to rat someone out. He gets all up in Gimpy's face to warn him off, but it doesn't win him any popularity contests. Welcome to Ethics 101, Charlie. Plus, all these random childhood memories of Charlie's nasty mother keep popping up—turns out, smart doesn't equal simple.
Just when things are getting extra-complicated, Dr. Strauss and Professor Nemur whisk Charlie off to parade him around at a science convention in Chicago. Fed up with it all, Charlie gives everyone the slip and takes off with Algernon right before show time. Charlie sets up house in NYC with his rodent companion, but things aren't all hunky-dory: Algernon seems to be reverting to his pre-smart state. Uh-oh, Charlie—better read Ulysses while you still can.
Charlie takes his mind off, uh, his mind by hanging out with hippie flower-child Fay, an artist type who has the hots for him. He begins a sexual relationship with her while still keeping mum about his runaway status. When it all gets to be too much, Charlie dials up Alice and figures out a plan to go back to the lab as a scientist, not an experimental lab rat. There's no helping poor Algernon, though, who keeps losing brainpower until he dies. Sad face.
After seeing his fate written in the sand, Charlie becomes a man with a mission. He takes a trip down memory lane to confront his mother and sister, only to figure out that they're kind of pathetic. Charlie's mom, Rose, has a major breakdown and relives the moment when she sent Charlie away (which, creepily enough, involves busting out a kitchen knife). Charlie's a little upset and a lot weirded out, but he now knows all the facts about his childhood.
Paging Dr. Charlie: even though he's losing smarts right and left, Charlie figures out the mistake in his operation and calls it the Algernon-Gordon Effect. Now that he's only semi-smart, he finally gets it on with Alice—it's pretty short-lived though, because the old Charlie is on his way back. When Charlie's finally back to point A, he freaks Alice out by showing up to her old class. Even though he's out of it, he writes a final letter to say goodbye and thank Alice, and before signing off permanently, he hopes someone will remember to put flowers on Algernon's grave.