Vivian Carpentier, confined by her role as an upper class woman in the 1940s, gleans meaning only from erotic love. Troubled by the elusiveness of men, yet convinced that they run the world, she can barely conceal her desperation to entice. Struggling with motherhood and the failure of marriage, she takes jobs to bridge intervals between lovers. She sings in a hotel bar, sells dresses, and nurses her fathers friend through his last illness, hoping to atone for a self-centered life. The constant in Vivians life is her son, David. Having seen her worst and best moments, he provides her with consolation and a reason for living, In those days of her lovers absence, she grew fascinated with her sons beauty with the hard blue of his eyes, with all the particulars of his face, the pliability of his lips. The Son is the haunting story of a woman who desires something more, as if something more had been promised her that was not yet given. Vivian Carpentier, convinced that men run the world, finds meaning only in erotic love. Troubled by the elusiveness of men, she is barely able to conceal her desperation to entice, her need to be wanted. The only constant in Vivians life is her son, David. She envies his future and wills to possess it. Having seen her worst and best moments, David provides her with consolation and a reason for living. Broaching an ancient taboo deeply embedded in the human psyche, The Son is the haunting story of a woman who sleeps with the bedside lamp lit, waiting for the illumination of self.