Mary Stuart Masterson, two years before her role in Fried Green Tomatoes, plays Lucy, a simple teenager who has a child with her young musician boyfriend. While pregnant she makes arrangements for the baby to be adopted by a family that can give it a good home. That family is Linda and Michael Spector, played by Glenn Close and James Woods, living on the west coast.
As Lucy carries the child she becomes friends with the Spectors, and even visits their home before the baby is born, to the point of admiring the room they have decorated for the newborn. However, after the delivery she has second thoughts, the normal bond between a mother and her child, and simply leaves the hospital, with baby boy, and travels to Ohio and her dad's home. Later when it become clear to her that she and the young father cannot give their son a proper upbringing, she goes back to the Spectors and gives him to them. She leaves a letter to William (the boy) and in a voice-over as the movie is ending, we hear her tell him why she gave him up. The Spectors stay in touch and we see a photo she has of the boy about two years old, with a big shaggy dog.
As Lucy carries the child she becomes friends with the Spectors, and even visits their home before the baby is born, to the point of admiring the room they have decorated for the newborn. However, after the delivery she has second thoughts, the normal bond between a mother and her child, and simply leaves the hospital, with baby boy, and travels to Ohio and her dad's home. Later when it become clear to her that she and the young father cannot give their son a proper upbringing, she goes back to the Spectors and gives him to them. She leaves a letter to William (the boy) and in a voice-over as the movie is ending, we hear her tell him why she gave him up. The Spectors stay in touch and we see a photo she has of the boy about two years old, with a big shaggy dog.