In 1954, nice girls kept their virtue intact. If they didn't and got pregnant, their families and society at large could be cruel. Booth Memorial Hospitals, run by the Salvation Army, stretched across the country and abroad, homes and hospitals for pregnant women who needed a safe haven. Mary and Kenny, both graduate students at the University of Iowa, live together for almost three years, sizzling in their attraction to each other. Mary is pursuing a Ph.D. in Victorian literature, and Kenny is a top physics student, eventually a research assistant to James Van Allen, an early space pioneer. Now Mary is pregnant. Did she forget her diaphragm on purpose? Kenny says he wants to marry her but he isn't faithful, and Mary, a fledgling feminist, wants her career, Kenny, and no marriage or baby. Mary is a small town Iowa girl who regards herself as plain and not nearly as smart as her brilliant boyfriend Kenny. Kenny comes from a wealthy, upstate New York family, all of which he hides from her while they live together. At Booth Mary makes friends with Dee, a black girl from Des Moines who is determined to get Richie, the father of her baby, to marry her. Too bad Richie's engagement ring is on Dee's sister's finger. Ruby, a slightly older woman, is married to the head of the Iowa mob, that has ties directly into the Chicago mob. She has a young daughter and is pregnant by another man. The Salvation Army officers who run the Booth home and hospital are good woman, all but one, who is not what she seems. Are newborn babies valuable? To whom? How much? What is Mary and Kenny's baby worth, and what can they do to protect their baby?