Maggie and her husband Richard are both college professors and have a daughter, 17-year-old Jenny. Their marriage is falling apart, and when Richard admits to having an affair with a student at the college they both work at.

When a surrogate grows too fond of the baby she carried for a young couple, they try to disengage from her. But the surrogate starts poisoning the mother (with no danger to the child) in a scam that will keep the surrogate around, and then, when mom is gone, the surrogate will get the child, the husband and the suburban life she so earnestly covets.