Candida and Leo have been close friends since university, living together but loving separately. When Candida dies, she leaves her five-year-old daughter, Pagan, in Leo's care. Candida's adoptive parents are horrified. Refusing to accept that a gay man is a suitable person to bring up a child, they challenge Leo's guardianship in court. As Leo fights for his and Pagan's rights, he begins to discover the truth about Candida, the cause of her estrangement from her adoptive parents, the identity of her natural mother and the reasons for her refusal to name Pagan's father.