A small LGBT dramedy that turns grief into a decision. It is about Beau and Caden trying to build a family from Lily’s last gift, while real life keeps interrupting with jealousy, parents, and inconvenient emotions. Warm, awkward, and more honest than it first looks.
A year later, the grief is still in the room
Baby Steps (2023) opens with Beau and Caden doing that quiet, everyday thing couples do after a loss – trying to laugh, trying to breathe, trying to pretend life has found a new normal. They are still together a year after Lily’s death, which already tells you something. Not because everything is “healed”, but because they decided to stay inside the mess and not run from it.
And then Lily reaches back into their lives with one last, very Lily move: frozen eggs, a bill, and a letter that basically says, “If you ever want to be a father, here is a way.” It is tender, strange, and emotionally loaded in the best way. Suddenly, grief is not only memory. It becomes a choice.
The baby idea sounds simple, until it isn’t
The film does not waste time pretending this is going to be calm. The plan is obvious: create embryos, find a surrogate, build a family. But once the words “surrogate” and “parenthood” enter the room, every other hidden issue shows up like it was waiting in the hallway.
Caden is the one who panics first, and honestly, I get it. He is not afraid of kids as much as he is afraid of the permanence. A baby is not a weekend project. A baby is a mirror that reflects every crack in your relationship, every insecurity, every unresolved “we never actually talked about this” conversation.
Where the film gets brave: family, faith, and control
One of the best things Baby Steps does is bring in the family angle without turning it into a lecture. When Beau and Caden tell the parents, the reactions are not packaged as neat villains and heroes. You get love, denial, fear, faith, and that very human need to control what your children do with their lives.
And then comes the moment that flips the whole power dynamic: the mother who is ready to volunteer her own body, not as a grand gesture, but as pure “I want grandchildren, end of discussion” energy. It is funny, shocking, and kind of moving all at once.
The messy side plot that actually fits
There is also a subplot about desire, jealousy, and the kind of sexual restlessness that couples sometimes try to solve with “experiments.” The movie plays it with awkward humor, but it is not just there for cheap laughs. It connects to the bigger theme: when you are about to become parents, you either grow up together, or you start negotiating what “together” even means.
What works best
- The emotional engine – the film never forgets that Lily is the reason this story exists.
- The tone – it balances grief and comedy without feeling disrespectful.
- The parenting anxiety – it feels real, especially in Caden’s moments of doubt.
- The “two candidates” dilemma – it is classic drama, but it lands because the stakes are personal.
Worth your time?
Baby Steps is a small LGBT dramedy that knows exactly what it is doing. It is about building a future while still carrying the past, and about how love is not a magical fix, but it can be a decision you keep making.
If you like relationship stories that are intimate, a little chaotic, and surprisingly warm under the tension, this one is an easy watch. And yes, it gets messy. But it is the kind of mess that feels human.
