The story of one woman's longing for motherhood - and the terrible consequences of maternal indifference. When retired forensic psychiatrist Corine Alexander is asked to help a former child patient prepare for parole, she welcomes the distraction from her own grief. Determined to understand why a seemingly well-balanced teenager would attack her mother with a knife, Corine finds herself up against a wall of silence: a patient unwilling to talk and a family held together only by the secrets they refuse to share. But to uncover the truth about her troubled patient's past, Corine must also confront the tragedy in her own life...