Certainly, it's natural that young Meredith Baxter wants to find out information in regards to her natural parents. But she has such loving adoptive parents (Neva Patterson and Walter Brooke) that it becomes hurtful to them that you would even consider going out on this journey, and once in L. A. where she finds out she was born, she joins forces with a young man (Beau Bridges) searching for his natural parents, and after hitting the wall at several tries, joins a group dedicated to help other adopted adults find their parents, and this leads to success for some, failures for others, and for Baxter, a terrifying meeting at the conclusion.
This is a sometimes moving soap opera that has some great moments and other moments that are cringe-worthy. At one point, the group Baxter and Bridges are in becomes like a cult or a messy A. A. meeting, with members arguing over various aspects of their feelings about adoption and being parents who gave up their child, or parents who chose a child. Whitney Blake has an important cameo at the very end that is really hard to take, so at least the circle ends up being complete.
There is a haunting theme song that may stay with you long after the film is gone, and an important lesson to learn, but the many soap opera elements are a bit comical unintentionally, and a few intentionally funny moments ridiculous, particularly Maxine Stuart as a hospital secretary complaining about the cafeteria meatloaf.
What ends up being disturbing is the way that lives are disturbed by being interrupted, and it reminds me of the absurd retconning of Jill Foster on "The Young and the Restless" where out of the blue after the years, she discovered that she had been adopted. Bridges is rather over the top but I blame that on the writing for his character, and Baxter tries too hard to be noble even though she ends up turning someone's world upside down. The one true note is the performance by Blake at the end that makes you realize that this was just not worth all of the pain that many people had to face because of an immature decision.
This is a sometimes moving soap opera that has some great moments and other moments that are cringe-worthy. At one point, the group Baxter and Bridges are in becomes like a cult or a messy A. A. meeting, with members arguing over various aspects of their feelings about adoption and being parents who gave up their child, or parents who chose a child. Whitney Blake has an important cameo at the very end that is really hard to take, so at least the circle ends up being complete.
There is a haunting theme song that may stay with you long after the film is gone, and an important lesson to learn, but the many soap opera elements are a bit comical unintentionally, and a few intentionally funny moments ridiculous, particularly Maxine Stuart as a hospital secretary complaining about the cafeteria meatloaf.
What ends up being disturbing is the way that lives are disturbed by being interrupted, and it reminds me of the absurd retconning of Jill Foster on "The Young and the Restless" where out of the blue after the years, she discovered that she had been adopted. Bridges is rather over the top but I blame that on the writing for his character, and Baxter tries too hard to be noble even though she ends up turning someone's world upside down. The one true note is the performance by Blake at the end that makes you realize that this was just not worth all of the pain that many people had to face because of an immature decision.