In this particular episode, Inger plays a recovered addict desperate to be reunited with her young son. Something that continues to impress me is that I have never seen a throwaway role in Inger's television (and movie) work. She always selected these rich, nuanced roles where she played women with a past and perseverance. Inger is wonderful in this episode and displays her typical finesse in demonstrating many emotions in understated ways.
Summary
Theresa Stone (Inger Stevens) surprises Mr. and Mrs. Franklin when she shows up at their hearing to adopt Billy Stone. Theresa is there to contest the adoption and seeks out Sam Benedict (Edmond O'Brien) to represent her. Sam does not trust Theresa or even want to represent her because of her past and asks the judge to continue the case until he has more knowledge of the situation.
We learn that Theresa lost custody of Billy when he was just a baby due to a heroin addiction and resulting jail sentence and it is implied that she may have sold her body to pay for her habit. Sam is doubtful of Theresa's sobriety and questions her intentions. Once he learns of her past, Sam nearly denies her as a client. He is abrasive in his questioning so much so that his partner Hank Tabor (Richard Rust) asks him to tone it down while Theresa is undergoing a drug test.
Benedict: I'm always rough on addicts. They're not my favorite clients.
Tabor: She's not an addict. She's the boy's natural mother.
Benedict: Who abandoned him in favor of the needle. That's the record. There's nothing in that record to show she's a fit mother.
Tabor: We know what she was. Now it's our job to prove what she is.
And we are shown that what Theresa is is a hardworking medical secretary with positive recommendations from everyone in her life and a drug test that comes back clean.
When Tabor asks if she thinks her son will accept her, Theresa responds:
In a life like mine, Mr. Tabor, the target is always over the hill. I'm very lonely. I have been most of my life. Now I accept every day for what it is, not for what it can be or will be, but simply what it is.
Sam Benedict changes his mind about Theresa and addicts in general after speaking in-depth with a doctor who treats such cases. Through success stories and medical facts, the doctor convinces Sam that drug addicts are human beings, not scourges of society, and that they deserve to be treated as such. Sam agrees to take the case and has new admiration for Theresa for her willpower and dedication to turning her life around.
Although everyone assumes she's been an absent mother, Theresa confides that she's been checking on Billy for years from afar to make sure he was okay. One day, Billy turns the tables and watches Theresa from afar and follows her into a church and asks her if she's his mother.
When the hearing resumes, Theresa's past is brought up in detail. She is asked to talk about how she became addicted to drugs and it is clear that her story is a common one: a teen who has no support and falls for the high that drugs present. Theresa explains how she started with alcohol at 15 and tried heroin at 17. Showing his growth over the episode, Sam Benedict stands up to state that drug addiction is a health problem, not a criminal problem and backs it up with statistics.
The judge decides that Theresa has proven herself in the last four years by staying clean and gainfully employed and that she is sincere in reuniting with the boy. He denies the adoption request by Billy's foster mother (who is devastated but fair to Theresa) and the episode ends with Billy embracing Theresa.
