Julie Lawson is a professional researcher living with her daughter Megan in Seattle and has recently separated from her husband Sam because he had an affair with his secretary. One day she blacks out while driving and crashes her car. In the hospital, the doctor says she suffered an inflammation of the arteries to the brain, and a fatal blockage will soon happen unless she undergoes surgery immediately. Then the nurse warns her that if strokes run in the family, it would be too risky too operate. Julie contacts her father to request this information, and he admits that she was adopted and he has no way to know if strokes run in her family. Shocked, Julie learns that her parents were not able to conceive or eligible to adopt, so she adopted Julie from the black market through a lawyer. Determined to find her roots, Julie tracks down this lawyer. He has since died, but his son Bill Curtis still runs his practice and provides Julie with some important documents that show that shortly after payments by Julie's adoptive parents, Curtis' father paid funds to a woman called Frances Thompson living in Cloverton, British Columbia. Assuming that this woman is her mother, she heads to Cloverton, where she learns that Frances was a 75-year-old former schoolteacher who recently died with her husband in a car accident. She further learns that their daughter Beth runs her own beauty parlor in the area. Realizing that Beth is her mother, she contacts her and quickly reveals her true identity. Beth initially denies the possibility of being her mother, but later reveals that she was raped after a school dance and gave birth to a baby while studying in Seattle. The possible rapists are the guys at the dance, including Matthew Saunders who got addicted to drugs and later disappeared; Jake Gibson, who married her best friend Sue and later died; and Tim Webster and Del Smith, both of whom are still traceable. Julie first traces down Del, telling him that she is a journalist writing an article on their homecoming then and now. Del makes an indecent proposal while driving her, which scares her. She next contacts Tim, whose name is quickly cleared as he reveals that he is infertile. After she leaves Tim's place, Del approaches her on the street, suspecting that she is in town for ulterior motives. As he harasses her, he mentions that his father died from a stroke. Julie is convinced that Del is the perpetrator and panics, considering that she cannot have surgery if he indeed turns out to be her biological father. Meanwhile, Beth relives the rape in her memories and recalls the lack of support that her mother gave her. She remembers that she collected a button from the rapist which she kept secretly. She finds the button and notice that it belongs to a green jacket. Through a photo made at the homecoming dance, they learn that the rapist is Jake. Sue is shocked to learn that her husband raped Beth and tells Julie that strokes did not run in his family. Afterwards, Julie returns to Seattle and successfully undergoes surgery. She reconnects with her adoptive father and gives Sam a second chance.
Reviewer of Variety wrote: "Gilbert and Duke turn in strong, believable perfs, and William Shatner is restrained as Gilbert’s hand-wringing adoptive father. Director Sheldon Larry keeps the action moving swiftly and with little padding; tech credits are OK."
