Why is Frances Mary O’Donnell, single and forty, carrying a child? Whose child? She cannot remember. Her life is filled with bizarre coincidences, leading her to believe that the infant is retribution for her role in the tragic death of her mother, many years ago. She seeks help from a catholic priest who persuades Frances that the child is no punishment, but a gift from God. He and his sister agree to look after mother and child when Frances loses her job and her home. The boy is born and it soon becomes apparent that he is very different from other children. Within months he is walking and talking, yet no questions are asked. Chronologically now 3 years old, he has the stature and intellect of a teenager. Only then does the shroud of silence lift and the ‘family’ determines to seek answers, but the sudden arrival of government officials pulls their world apart. A horrified Frances learns that her pregnancy was the result of an illegal experiment in gene modification; her inability to remember, drug induced. The priest’s ‘gift of God’ shows the all too human hand of interference.
