The story takes place at the same community, and at around the same time as The Giver. The characters live in a utopian community, where everything was reduced to homogeneity (Which they call sameness) and micromanaged all in the name of equality: The protagonist in this story is the Birth Mother Claire, who was assigned this role at the age of twelve; she gives birth via C-section due to complications during labor. Because of the micromanagement of the community, she is reassigned to work at the fish hatchery, but before she left she asks an officer working at the birthing unit about her baby, and she is informed that her baby is healthy, but the officer also informs her that the child is a boy and number 36. Claire is curious about her son,
