This is a very good movie that I think the whole family can watch and enjoy, The acting was good. And the script was well written. Yes, I recommend it. James Welch, Henderson, Arkansas.

I'm not used to seeing a Hallmark movie the makes so much use of two-bit thugs, dangerous threats, and clear corruption in the local government. Since it's Hallmark, you know the sweet elderly lady is going to push through in the end, but in real circumstances with a sheriff like that and his accomplices things would not be won through so easily. As a result, even though the story is very original for Hallmark, I have mixed feelings about it because it is just too hard to swallow.

If you can suspend reality, and I'll admit some of that is required in any Hallmark movie, then it is a very sweet story. It has redemption, and forming of strong bonds. There is a sweet but precocious 10 year old. The villains are mean enough, but perhaps a bit too stereotyped, especially Hunter Tylo and Sean O'Brien. The character of Billie has no originality at all.

Of course, Ann Margaret is the center of the show and brings it all together. Give Shailene Woodley as Cali some credit. So often the child star overplays her role, but in this movie not the (then) future Tris from Divergent.

There are two romance stories going. Because so much of the story is about other things, neither one gets enough screen time to clarify why these couples would jell. Tula's story has 8 years of backstory, so it's not a stretch, but it's hard to see why anyone would fall for Hank. The most endearing relationship of the movie is Cali and Tula and even that relationship gets barely enough screen time.

The climax of the movie is the return of the hero, but why his return saved the day doesn't exactly make sense. There are still a lot of weaknesses there to exploit, one of the biggest of which is that it appears Cali hasn't been in school for a long time if ever and Hank isn't likely to have been much of a home school parent. But I already agreed to suspend reality, so forget I said anything.

Ann-Margret definitely turns in a very good performance here as a widow living in a gorgeous mansion in the woods. Her eyesight is failing but she has undying memories of her husband who has been gone for 8 years.

The husband's nephew and niece want to get the property to develop it and sell. Sounds like an awfully familiar theme.

Along drops in a drifter whose wife has abandoned him. He comes with his daughter. The drifter is hired by Margret to do chores and of course Tula (Margret) forms an attachment with the child.

There is a social worker who invariably falls for the drifter. When the latter spurns the niece, this adds further fuel to the fire. The nephew and niece make sure to have him beaten up, have his identity thoroughly checked, and threaten the social worker accordingly.

Had they found something real juicy with the drifter involving a court case and eventual exoneration, this would have made for a far more interesting film. Nonetheless, we see Ann-Margret vying for independence and eventually finding a new love in the town doctor.

The happy ending shows that a new family can unite and that the greedy can't always get their way.