"Fiona Maye is a leading High Court judge in the family court, renowned for fierce intelligence, exactitude, and sensitivity. But her professional success belies private sorrow: the lingering regret of childlessness and a thirty-year marriage in crisis. Now Fiona is trying an urgent case: Adam, a ... seventeen-year-old boy, is refusing medical treatment for religious reasons, and his devout parents echo his wishes. Fiona visits Adam in the hospital, and her decision has momentous consequences for them both."