At a time when sex is de rigueur – this is the 60s, after all, in newly energized London – and illegitimacy taboo, Rosamund Stacey finds herself pregnant after her only sexual encounter. Despite her fierce independence and academic brilliance, Rosamund is naive and unworldly and the choices before her are terrifying. But in the perfection and helplessness of her baby she finds an unconditional love she has never known before, and the realization that motherhood and independence are not mutually exclusive.