Paul's father (Cambell Scott) and Emily (Kyra Sedgewick) seduce each other with literature.

Brilliant, beautiful and financially secure, Emily Stoll (Kyra Sedgwick) never wanted a husband or a house with a picket fence. She knew she needed just one thing to make her truly happy: a child with whom she could share life's wonders.

When an anonymous sexual encounter results in the birth of her son, Paul (Dominic Scott Kay), she is astonished to find that he is even more precious to her than she had imagined. Creative and iconoclastic, Emily has no interest in polite social interaction. Her single overriding passion is to help her precocious child, her Loverboy", reach his fullest potential and to protect him from what she sees as the stifling conformity purveyed by mediocre teachers and ordinary playmates. But, when Paul reaches school age and his natural curiosity begins to draw him to the outside world, Emily knows she has to act quickly to hold on to the love of her life.