The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

I think some of our reviewers need to put in perspective the difference between cinema movies and telemovies (at least as telefilms were back before the current explosion of Netflix and other premium services. For a telefilm, this is a pretty decent effort.In terms of the casting, I'd actually give the biggest pat on the back to Anna Chlumsky, who plays 2 characters here -- the daughter of Patricia Heaton's character, and the friend of Della Reese's character. She did a nice job.I was interested in seeing this early role for Patricia Heaton, whom I only knew from "The Middle" and "Everybody Loves Raymond". Again, a nice job.I thought Meredith Baxter's character underwent too much of a change through the teleplay, and had to deal with a flaw in the story line (being super concerned about her husband's legal predicaments to seeming to not be concerned at all).Della Reese was quite good while her character was well, but I wasn't as convinced about her acting once the character got sick.The story line -- possible. Tragic lives happen.The teleplay is not going to bowl you over, but it's very watchable.

There is no a leading actress here, it's a wonderful team of characters that are connected to each other. For one side, two sisters who are estranged because they used to think and live in a different way, one is living in town and the other one in a city, whose husband is in a legal battle and she wants to sell the family land for getting the money and being able to help him, so Sarah and her daughter visited Wanda and try to convince her to do it. But there is a mysterious and lovely tenant named Lilly Cooper, who is an old and nice woman interpreted by Della Reese, she had a hard life, with an abusive husband, but the love of her life was her son and she lost him when she was young, but she never forgot him. So Wanda is not agree to sell the land because she doesn't want to get Lilly away from her little cottage. At the end, there was a surprise that Lilly was owner of the land she had her cottage and with the help of Sarah, who had changed her mind and decided to help Lilly to find her son. Thanks Heaven she could see her son and was able to meet him before the operation but unfortunately she didn't make it, she was too ill and she died. The power of love and forgiveness is present in this film.

As I watched this film, tears spilled from my third eye. I can give no higher recommendation. I have enjoyed other Anna Chlumsky films in the same vein and they often have me reaching for the tissues.

It's just a formulaic tear-jerker, but Della Reese is wonderful. It's a pity there can't be one of her to act all the time and another one to sing all the time.