Wanda LeFauve (LAURA DERN) is a poor mother of four with an unemployed husband living in a trailer outside Shreveport, Louisiana. Pregnant again, she finds a newspaper ad placed by a couple hoping to adopt a newborn. Summoning up her courage, Wanda makes the telephone call. The couple—Rachel (STOCKARD CHANNING) and Richard Luckman (PETER RIEGERT)—are wealthy, Jewish urbanites from Los Angeles. They skirt logistics, legal matters, fears and prejudices prior to the child's birth.