 Based on the 1994 landmark case in Michigan which set a precedent for ruling that putting a child in daycare could not be considered suitable grounds for losing custody, this docudrama follows the birth of daughter Maranda Ireland-Smith to teenagers Jennifer Ireland and Steve Smith. Her father fought for custody when she was three, based on the grounds that Jennifer, while attending university, left her child in daycare, and was therefore an unsuitable mother. Custody was given to the father by Judge Raymond Cashen, but the appeal later returned the child to her mother, who had raised her since birth, and imposed a publication ban on the trial to protect the minor Maranda.