Max Normane is the kind of woman that some less creative individuals might refer to as a "Type A" personality. Her eye for the undiscovered literary gem is famous, and Max repreatedly demonstrates this ability in "URBANITY," the literary magazine she presides over. When Max meets Jake Benjamin, a struggling but talented writer whose previous attempts at getting published have been sabotaged by his own egocentric idiosyncracies and lousy attitude, Max offers him a mutually beneficial solution of Faustian proportions - his seed in exchange for publication. In other words, she'll give life to his child, if he gives life to hers. Despite Jake's shock and outrage at such blackmail, this bizarre opportunity for long-awaited literary succces is too good for the frustrated artist to pass up.