Frankie's Baby

Set just after World War II, Frances Sutherland is beautiful and smart. She has married the love of her life, Simon, and moved to Paris to join her father, the American Ambassador to France, and continue her art studies. Frankie is the apple of her father's eye and a genuinely good girl which is more than can be said for her sister, Elizabeth. When Elizabeth gets pregnant underage and out of wedlock, Frankie persuades her father to provide a home, albeit temporarily, for the baby. Frankie takes responsibility for the child, abandoning her studies and setting aside her dreams. However, tragedy strikes, and in a case of mistaken identity the baby is kidnapped. The kidnappers, believing Frankie to be the mother and therefore the Ambassador to be the grandfather, make demands for the child's safe return but not before cutting off a finger to raise the stakes. This leaves Frankie with no choice but to assume the role of grieving, distraught mother in order to get the baby back. But Frankie's pain does not begin or end with the kidnapping. When the strain of the missing baby becomes too much, Frankie asks that the investigation continue without her. Simon is furious. He can't believe his wife would abandon an innocent baby to fate, and in temper reveals he is the child's father. Frankie, determined that the hurt should end agrees to continue to help the investigation. The ransom is paid and the child returned safely. However, getting the baby back costs Frankie her marriage, her sister and the life she was building but enables her to start over, making something meaningful out of the mess.