The sequel to The Thin Pink Line picks up where the story left off, as Jane Taylor arrives at the house of her ex-boyfriend, Tolkien, carrying a baby she found on the steps of a church. After faking a pregnancy for nine months, fate delivered little Emma into Jane's arms. Though there's no way Jane can pass Emma off as her own--Emma is black, while Jane is white--Jane wants nothing more than to adopt Emma and raise her, but her own deception might stand in her way. She has to come clean to her family, friends, and coworkers and convince them to hide her folly from Stephen Triplecorn, the Social Service worker who seems determined to find Jane unfit to raise Emma. But as Jane bonds with Emma and starts to win Tolkien back, her fake pregnancy comes back to haunt her in an unforeseen way.