Emily Stoll (Kyra Sedgwick) is a brilliant, beautiful and financially secure woman who 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. The only child of lovebirds Marty and Sybil Stoll (Kevin Bacon and Marisa Tomei), Emily always felt like a third wheel, a by-product of her parents' intense romance. By the time she reaches her late 20s, Emily decides to forego marriage entirely and conceive a child on her own.
An anonymous sexual encounter with an amiable businessman named Paul (Campbell Scott), results in the birth of her son, whom she names Paul (Dominic Scott Kay). Emily is astonished to find that her child is even more precious to her than she had imagined. The intense intimacy of motherhood finally gives her life passion and meaning Emily and her "Loverboy" settle down in a cozy home where she introduces him to the world as she sees it: a world of imagination, humor, literature and magic, but most importantly, a world meant for just the two of them.
Creative and iconoclastic, Emily has no interest in polite social interaction. She shuns neighbors, school, potential lovers – any distractions that might take her away from Paul, or Paul away from her. Her single overriding passion is to help her precocious child reach his fullest potential and to protect him from what she sees as the stifling conformity purveyed by mediocre teachers and ordinary playmates. For six years, Emily manages to fend off attempts by well-meaning outsiders to penetrate the exclusive bond she shares with Paul. But, when Paul reaches school age and his natural curiosity begins to draw him to the outside world, Emily knows she has to find a way to hold on to him. No matter what, her "Loverboy" must always remain by her side.