Seventeen-year-old Matt Wilson is in a difficult situation. His mother has remarried and moved to California and he has dropped out of school. He is living in a grimy rooming house and he doesn't have very much money. His girlfriend, Lorene, is pregnant and her family won't let Matt see her. Lorene and her mother have decided - without consulting Matt - that the best thing to do is give the baby up for adoption. When the baby is born, Matt goes to the hospital to see him. When Matt sees his newborn son, it is love at first sight and he knows he can never let him go - even if that means going it alone as a single father. He does not plan to walk out of the hospital with his baby son. It is just something that happens. He walks all the way to his grandmother's small cottage where she takes him in without asking a lot of questions, even though she suspects her grandson is in trouble. Being a father gives Matt a sense of self-worth and purpose that he has never felt before. But will he be allowed to keep his son?