Love's Unending Legacy

What happened to Marty, that she's ill of sorts, in this movie? I really miss Katherine Heigl in this one!

It's three years after Missie LaHaye lost her husband Willie shot in the line of duty as sheriff. She moves back east to her parents Marty Davis and Clark Davis with her young son Mattie. She takes the teaching job. She adopts bitter orphan Belinda who is the last without a home. Her little brother Jacob had been taken by the Pettises looking for a farm hand. Sheriff Zack Tyler falls for Missie.

The adoption story is compelling. The overall feel is a bit disjointed especially at the beginning. The story improves as it concentrates more on Belinda and the adoption. That's the more dramatic part and a real tear jerker. This is a sincere faith-based movie. It's the fifth in the series. The TV movie does have its charms but also has its limitations.

This is the fifth film in the Love Comes Softly series based on the books by Janette Oke centered around a pioneering family. In this entry Missy LaHaye has been left widowed when her sheriff husband Willie is killed breaking up a bar fight. After two years of toughing it out on her own she brings her son Mattie back home to her home town where she becomes the local teacher and has a small house of her own. Almost immediately she takes in a 14 year old orphan girl named Belinda, from the widows and orphans organization, who was sent with her brother from New York. Unfortunately, her brother goes to a neighboring farm where they are working him hard and not feeding him properly.

It was wonderful to see Erin Cottrell back as Mattie and Dale Midkiff as her father Clark Davis. There was also the introduction of the town sheriff Zach Taylor played by Victor Browne. I was disappointed to see another actress play Marty, I miss Katherine Heigl. Also...what happened to adopted son Jeff LaHaye???? He is not even mentioned in this film.

Overall it was a great story and I think fans of the series will love it.

The movie Absolutely nothing like the book Missy's husband never dies in fact Love's undering Legacy is about Marty and Clark and their children and they have a baby named Belinda she's not an orphan

What could have been a good TV movie was weakened by an overdone and unsuitable musical score. I found this was an annoyance during the first half of the movie. Performances overall were not that bad but the this mood music (that didn't seem to suit a western film) played over the actors as they spoke in many scenes and this became a real distraction.

In one scene, which takes place in the church, a pastor is asking a congregation to volunteer to take care of homeless children lined up across the platform behind him. All the dialog in this scene is underscored by this deep emotional mood music which is unnecessary and distracting.