Far along in her pregnancy, Sandra is adamant that her child remain with her after it is born, even though she is serving a prison sentence. The social worker and the youth welfare office are skeptical about whether she in a condition to raise the child. They fear that if Sandra is subjected to stress, she will revert to her old pattern of behavior and lose her composure. Only through flashbacks cleverly woven into the narrative do we learn how everything could have come to this.