Sam would certainly not have allowed someone to easily get into his life, as occurs when Rita quickly becomes part of Sam's daily routine or when the hooker catches Sam's eye at Denny's. When looking at Sam's relationship with Rita he would not only be emotionally unattached but the changes in his life would have thrown off his routines causing tantrum like results. Sam handles the stress of life in this movie with the ease of an individual with average intelligence and without autism. Despite this flaw Sam still finds himself with a child and no one to help take care of the child. .
An individual with even mild autistic tendencies would be incapable of raising a child on their own, the added stress and changes to their life would be unbearable. On the first night that Sam brought home his daughter these difficulties are portrayed. Sam is unsure how to treat the child as she cry's and doesn't know when to feed his daughter or even how to hold the child. To aid Sam is the neighbor, played by Dianne Wiest, who comes to the rescue and sets Sam's schedule for feeding the child to something he could relate to, TV. I couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that the neighbor tells Sam to turn the TV to Nickelodeon and feed the child when particular shows come on. I can remember doing the same thing with some of my mom's students when I would baby-sit. They would have no concept of time but their mind would work in such a manner that they would never forget if you related the time to something in their daily routine, for example I would tell them their mom would be home after "Rugrats" ended and there would be no way they would forget.
Annie's role, the role of the neighbor, is an important part in the movie and because of her I am able to believe that Sam raised his daughter. Annie must have played an incredible part in raising Lucy, the name of Sam's child. Even before birth the neighbor had a large impact on Sam's life.