Couples unable to have children will go to any lengths to become parents. They must resort to the Baby Merchant, Tom Starbird. He will, for a hefty fee, supply a baby on order. To obtain these babies he has taken it upon himself to remove infants from what he deems unsuitable environments: from unfit mothers or mothers taxed with too many children to care for. He feels he is doing the best for all concerned by placing the baby in loving homes here they are wanted.

He is on the verge of quitting for good when he is approached by Jake Zorn, the Television Conscience of Boston, and his wife, Maury a childless couple in their forties. Zorn will do anything to obtain a baby for Maury who is obsessed with motherhood. When Tom refuses since he is to retire, Zorn threatens to ruin him and his mother if Tom doesn't produce a baby.

So Tom undertakes his last job. He targets pregnant artist Sasha Egan who lives in a home for unwed mothers. When Sasha is stalked by the baby's father who will use the baby as a means to obtain money from Sasha's wealthy grandmother, Sasha flees the home and seeks a life for herself and the unborn baby she now realizes she wants. It becomes a race to learn who will succeed and gain what they most desire.

This is a fast paced thriller, well written with vividly drawn, interesting characters. The theme of the plot is thought-provoking: the obsession to have children and the lengths taken to fulfill this desire, and with celebrity adoptions and their exploitation of the less fortunate.