Rachel Elliot is single and attractive, a director of a successful advertising firm with a handsome lover, several close friend and a clutch of young godchildren. But as her fourtieth birthday approaches so does a sneaking sense of futility. With typical resolution Rachel decides that the answer to this new problem is to have a child of her own. Used to getting what she wants, she expects to achieve this aim in the same easy manner in which all her other life ambitions have been realised.