Fiona Maye is a British High Court judge who presides over cases in the Family Division. She is renowned for her fierce intelligence, exactitude, and sensitivity. But her professional success belies her private sorrow. There is the lingering regret of her childlessness--and now her husband of thirty years is threatening to destroy their marriage.
At the same time, she is called on to try an urgent case. Adam, a beautiful and talented seventeen-year-old leukemia patient, is refusing a blood transfusion that could save his life. As a Jehovah's Witness, his faith prohibits the procedure, and his devout parents share his wishes. Should the secular court overrule the family's sincerely expressed faith? Fiona decides to visit Adam in the hospital before she makes her decision--an encounter that stirs long-buried feelings in her and powerful new emotions in the boy. Her judgment has momentous consequences for them both.