This movie is not in any way a romance. There is a couple, but their relationship is not the focus of the movie.
This movie is mostly depressing until near the end. The viewer slowly learns about the tragedy that has taken control of Sarah's life and of her neighbor Lorainne. There are snippets, but it takes a while before the viewer actually sees what happened.
The focus of the movie is dealing with loss and blame. Sarah and Lorainne are bound together in loss. Sarah has recently been diagnosed with leukemia and dwells on that as a kind of Karma or punishment for her part in the tragedy. After the event, she left town to avoid dealing. Lorainne has locked herself away in a kind of self imposed isolation from everyone. It is implied that prior to Sarah's return to town, Lorainne was "doing better" with time, but Sarah's appearance is a setback.
This is where things began to seem odd to me. Despite obviously being unwanted there, Sarah tries to hang out with Lorainne, using excuses to facilitate it. Her purpose seems unclear, but perhaps she is seeking absolution. Lorainne's husband tells Sarah to stay away. Events conspire to bring things to a head, and even some of these developments seemed odd.
In the end, the movie makes its statement about forgiveness and blame. There is also a great deal of courage in one of the characters, that to me, came up out of nowhere.
There are excellent things about this movie, especially the main themes. The acting is mostly good. I deducted a few stars because: 1) the depressing atmosphere pervades most of the movie. I have seen other movies by Hallmark that went deep into the subject of loss with a much lighter tone. Two Turtle Doves stands out as a movie I think of for the subject of loss. 2) I just didn't buy the way Sarah and Lorraine interacted, especially before the turning point. I'm also not sure the movie gave enough explanation for the reason behind that turning point. It's tough to fit everything into a 90 minute movie, but maybe they could have left out some of the story about Sarah and her high school ex.
I'm sure many people will find this movie compelling. In that sense I recommend it. I'm just not sure I want to watch it again.
