Newspaper columnist Mitch Albom (Rick Roberts) recounts his time spent with a former professor, Morrie Schwartz (Hal Linden), who was dying from ALS (more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease). Albom had not been in touch with Schwartz since attending his college classes 16 years earlier. After Albom saw a terminal Schwartz on Nightline, talking with Ted Koppel about his experience with death and dying, Albom contacted Schwartz. The resulting book - based entirely on tape-recorded conversations between Albom and Schwartz about life's most important lessons - was initially proposed for the purpose of paying Morrie's medical bills. Four years later, it had spent 205 consecutive weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List and is the best selling memoir of all time.