A Circle of Chalk

How far will I go to have the child I always wanted? How long am I willing to wait? Do you really have to ask me-I will wait for Mia for as long as it takes …

In May of 1981, Jenna Ellis is a bright, hopeful new graduate of Princeton University, headed to NYU Law School in the fall, and destined for a high-powered legal career in New York City. When she meets the charming heir to a multibillion-dollar family-owned business, Jenna’s perfect life seemingly begins to coalesce.

At the same time, three thousand miles away, millionaires Mario and Elsa Rios leave their upscale Los Angeles neighborhood behind searching for answers and healing from a devastating loss. Their destination is Melbourne, Australia, to meet with the most elite fertility doctors in the world. The Rioses would not know it, but they would ultimately be the last non-Aussie patients accepted by the cutting-edge Test Tube Baby Team led by Doctors Carl Wood and Alan Trounson.

The point at which the star-crossed paths of Jenna and Elsa intersect is the flash point of a bioethical discussion that, forty years after the fact, is only just beginning.