A touching, tender and at times funny account of a woman's struggle for stature in a 4 foot 81/2 inch tall body. Beyond Measure speaks to the heart of soul-breaking attempts to fit an arbitrary and elusive cultural ideal of physical perfection. Being short isn't the problem, Ellen insists. Instead, the real difficulties lie in the social bias against short people. She shares the dilemma of being subjected to simultaneous messages that her physical body should be bigger -that is, taller, but not wider- while her expansive spiritual body should be smaller. As a result of too much attention the external rather than the internal workings of the soul, Ellen flirts with eating disorders and unhealthy relationships with powerful males in an attempt to compensate for her feelings of not “measuring up.” In the process, her real life slips farther away. The path out of her dilemma lies in the shadow of the tallest mountain on Earth. It is through a spiritual pilgrimage to Nepal that Ellen discovers her own strength and spirit, and that we are all dwarfed by Everest and beyond measure.