Son is the conclusion of the novel The Giver by award-winning author Lois Lowry. In this novel, Claire is a twelve year-old girl. She lives in an isolated village that is strictly controlled by those in power. When she turns twelve, Claire receives her work assignment, which is to be a birthmother.

In Claire's society, as a birthmother, you give birth to up to three children. These children are then nurtured and cared for until they are turned over to the parents that will raise the children. By fourteen, Claire is in labor. During childbirth, however, something goes medically wrong and they have to deliver the child by Cesarean section, instead of naturally. This causes Claire to lose her certification as a birthmother and she is reassigned to work in the Fish Hatchery of the village. Prior to leaving, however, she finds out that she gave birth to a boy and that he is Number Thirty-six in the Nurturing Center, where he is cared for before being assigned to a family.

Claire forms a relationship with a worker at the Nurturing Center, so she can secretly spend time with her son. When her son turns one, however, the village elders deem him unfit to be assigned to a family, so the nurturer's son, Jonas, steals the baby so he won't be killed. Jonas runs off to another village with the baby. Claire leaves her village aboard a ship and ends up getting washed up on the shore of another village. While Claire lives there for several years, trying to get her memories back, she remembers she has a son and trains to climb out of the steep mountain village to find him. She has to trade her youth to find her son when she emerges from the village. Claire lives in the same village and watches her son grow and turn into a young man. Gabe doesn't find out Claire is his mother until she's on her death bed.

Gabe uses his special power to get Claire's youth back. Then, mother and son can live out the life they've been robbed of all of these years.