What drives her is that she, herself, wishes to be a poet. As Netflix writes in the movie's description, "She takes an evening poetry class but, despite her best efforts, her work is mediocre." One doesn't have to be great to know greatness when they come across it (just ask non-sculptor who has looked at Michaelangelo's David), and Gyllenhaal's Staten Island school teacher character, Lisa Spinelli, decides the greatness within this child is worth doing anything to protect. Her obsession with the child is both inappropriate and riveting; it's hard to tear your eyes away from the trailer. Just when you think she's reached a line that cannot be crossed, the character runs across it with total abandon.