Natalie (Melissa Gilbert) has just lost her distinguished, judge father. But, hold on! In the will, there is secret information that the man never revealed to his daughter while he was alive. Before Natalie's mother, the learned gentleman had a brief, previous marriage to a rodeo trick rider. Nat is floored! By starting to dig, the beautiful attorney finds that the horsewoman lived on a ranch, not terribly far from Los Angeles. Arriving at this place, Natalie tells the folks there that she is a journalist, working on a story about the former star rider. She immediately learns that this grand dame is deceased, and that her daughter, Jess (Lindsay Wagner) now runs the place. There is also a very handsome ranch hand, Sam, who makes eyes at Nat and visa versa. Two more discoveries come forth. One, the old ranch, with its wild horses, has a great need of drinking water, for a previous source has run dry. Knowing this, a crooked neighbor wants to force Jess to sell her land. But, more importantly, its possible that Jess and Natalie are related. Will things resolve with rainbows for all? This is a very fine film, especially for those who adore romantic drama. Gilbert, Wagner, and the others do nice work fleshing out the movie's characters. Also, as one can imagine, the scenery is quite beautiful, as are the wild horses. While some of the flick's topics are very serious, there is also time for humor and romance. Therefore, if you are drawn to the former stars of Little House or The Bionic woman, or just love romance-on-the-range, this is the film for you.

Routine movie fanfare where Melissa Gilbert finds out that her late erudite judge father was previously wed to a rodeo queen. The latter let him go because she saw greatness in his future. If she felt like this, why did she marry him to begin with? Unbeknown to the future, he had a daughter with this woman. She is played by Lindsay Wagner.

When Gilbert goes to the ranch to investigate, she soon finds that Wagner is in dispute with the new owner of the range regarding water rights for her horses. In fact, the film begins with the guy shooting at the horses. I was wondering if this was another "They Shoot Horses, Don't they?" Unfortunately, the true nature of the conflict between them is never revealed. As Gilbert is an attorney, she soon threatens the guy with jail if he doesn't let the horses get their water.

Along the way, there is a budding romance between Gilbert and the town vet. Looks like the film is going to the dogs.

For those of us who have walked in the shoes of marginalization or separation from blood kin due to parental decisions to keep secrets, this movie provided a warm and real option for closure. It was comforting, and helped me recognize that connecting to previously unknown relatives takes work, and requires honesty.

Lindsay Wagner portrayed a credible role of a firstborn separated from half of her birth family. Estranged from her father, she learned early in life to reach out with love towards others, adopting, so-to-speak, perfect strangers, providing them a safe sanctuary. Her other option was to be bitter, self-centered, and angry, but she chose to give, rather than take. Conversely, Melissa Gilbert begins by being angry and mistrusting.

These two characters actually portrayed the emotional schism that exists within children born unto such circumstances. Separating the juxtaposed emotions into two separate characters really helps the viewer, who may have experienced this dynamic, to sort out feelings and see potential character developments of each emotion. The fact that Gilbert's role evolved into a trusting, giving individual who reaches out to the lost and brings them into her heart demonstrated a resolution that people separated at birth might wish to follow. At least such a solution could bring peaceful closure to the wounds parents' decisions sometimes creates in the lives of their offspring.

I gave this a high rating because of the realistic solution to real-life emotional turmoil this movie brought. Thanks for airing it.