The Rosie Project

Don is thrilled to have gotten Rosie’s telephone number, even if it is only for business rather than romantic purposes. He is in need of time to reflect, so he gets back into his routine by going on his combined run and shopping expedition. The shop keeper at each stall in the market knows what he buys, since he makes the same meals every week, so each one has his purchases ready to go. He only needs to pause in his run to pay. He decides to cancel the Father Project, so he calls Rosie and leaves a message asking her to call him back.

Rosie calls him to accept his offer of help. Because he answers the phone during a class, in front of his students, he’s unable to tell her that he wants to back out. When they meet for coffee the next day, they agree to collect the DNA samples together. She has a local candidate picked out who she believes is her father.

They go to Dr. Eamonn Hughes’ house on Saturday. Eamonn is a family friend, and he’s happy to see Rosie, who reveals that she got a very high score on the medical school qualifying exam. They come up with a ruse about a genographic study of doctors’ DNA, and Eamonn gives them a blood sample. When tested for DNA, the sample proves that Eamonn is not Rosie’s father.

Don and Rosie go out for a drink to help Rosie recover from her disappointment. Don sees Gene with Olivia—the woman he met at the group dinner date. Rosie and Don end up having dinner and again have a good time. Rosie tries to explain to Don why it’s so important for her to find her “real” father. He doesn’t understand, but he knows that it’s important for her happiness. Don attributes this unaccustomed social success and his happy feelings to the fact that he’s already eliminated Rosie from consideration as a partner. He asks Rosie who they are going to test next.

Rosie knows of two other family friends from her mother’s graduation class: Dr. Peter Enticott and Dr. Alan McPhee. Dr. Enticott lives locally, but since Dr. McPhee is dead, they decide to collect a sample from his daughter, Natalie, whom Rosie knows socially.

Don has another uncomfortable discussion with the Dean, because a medical student has complained that Don tried to humiliate him. The student questioned Don about “creation science” and the fact that evolution is an unproven theory. Don presented the student with a flounder—which has two eyes on one side of its head, one of which has migrated from the other side—to demonstrate evolution. Though Don has technically not broken any rules, as usual, the Dean tells Don that he must try harder to “fit in.” Don is terrified. He knows that if he cannot fit in successfully in the science faculty at a university, he cannot fit in anywhere.

Rosie drives Don to Natalie’s house, where Rosie ends up stealing Natalie’s toothbrush to get a DNA sample. Next they visit Peter Enticott, on the pretext of talking about Rosie’s application to the medical school where he teaches. They steal the cup he drinks from to get his sample. 

On the way home, Rosie takes a detour to the beach, so she can clear her head. Don respects Rosie’s way of dealing with her feelings. After walking on the beach, they resume their drive home. Don again experiences happiness and contentment in Rosie’s company.

Rosie challenges Don’s prejudiced view of her. Because she works as a bartender, he didn’t believe her earlier when she said that she was a graduate student in behavior science with a high score on the medical entrance exam.

When tested, neither of the DNA samples matches Rosie. She is very discouraged and sad. Over a bottle of wine, they discuss giving up the project. Finding and testing all of the remaining men in her mother’s graduating class would be too big of a task. Don finds he doesn’t want to give up on the Father Project, though he knows there is little rational basis for his decision.