Toby Jacobson is a happily married father of four with a fifth child on the way, but a sinister illness lurks in the shadows. A month after the birth of his daughter, the unimaginable happens when his wife, Sydney, dies after suffering a brain bleed. Facing a future without her, Toby searches unsuccessfully for a live-in nanny to care for his children. Then a friend recommends a highly qualified but inexperienced former classmate. There is a catch, though. Cliff Turnbull is a man.

While managing life-threatening emergencies, emotional outbursts from grieving children, antagonistic parents, a meddling mother's interventions, and memories of Sydney, images of a gay, youthful fling return to Toby. Physical yearnings begin to surface in Cliff. In the ensuing weeks, as a smoldering physical attraction begins to grow between them, Toby and Cliff travel a tumultuous path while they try to regain some semblance of order and a build new life for the family. Through it all, Cliff remains steadfast in his support of Toby and the children as they slowly discover a depth of love that no one could have believed possible and a passion than neither could have imagined.