In a Nutshell chronicles the unique life of Elizabeth Yegsa Tashjian: at birth in 1912, a first generation American of aristocratic Armenian immigrants; at age nine, a concert violinist living on Manhattan's upper west side; at twenty-one, an award-winning classical painter studying at the National Academy of Design in New York; at age forty-seven, a devoted Christian Science healer; and, at the youthful age of sixty, creator of the one and only Nut Museum.

Today, at ninety-two years old, Tashjian has found herself immersed in a strange new chapter of her prolific life. After a series of tragic events surrounding her health and finances, she is now penniless and confined to a nursing home against her will. The contents of the Nut Museum have been permanently removed and her beloved home has been sold to the highest bidder. Declared insane by her state-appointed conservators, Elizabeth Tashjian is fighting to preserve her identity and regain the life she has built.

We'll do our best to refrain from puns about nuts, though it's not easy when you're dealing with somebody like Elizabeth Tashjian. Luckily, Don Bernier's film is so beguiling and Elizabeth so guileless that it's pretty hard to make fun of her. She's the Nut Lady, so obsessed with nuts of all kinds that she opened the one and only Nut Museum and became a regular guest on Johnny Carson and other TV shows. But this poignant film is much more than a portrait of a seemingly crazy obsession-it's the story of the unique, fascinating life of this 93 year-old and the fight to preserve her own dignity and identity.