Michelle a single mother is kidnapped by three masked men and held hostage until she is forced to rob a bank which is the only option she has to saving her only child's life while they are both wired to explode.

Christmas is fast approaching and years of long workdays employed at New York’s top corporate law firm are about to pay off now that Lucy Toomey will be made partner after the New Year. However, when Alice, her older sister with special needs, unexpectedly passes away, Lucy returns back to Nilson’s Bay, Wis., to attend the funeral and handle her estate. While Lucy dreads returning to her childhood home, she also feels real sorrow that she was too busy to take her sister’s last call. Once back in Nilson’s Bay, Lucy meets Peter, her old high school sweetheart and Alice’s former attorney, who informs her of the terms of Alice’s eccentric will that states in order for Lucy to inherit the family home, she must live there for 30 days through the holidays.

Cara Rudland thought she’d left her Southern roots and troubled family far behind, but returns to the scenic Lowcountry of her childhood summers after losing her job in Chicago. There, she reconnects with her mother Lovie, who has been caring for her young, pregnant friend Toy in her charming beach house.

When a young woman's niece and nephew are threatened with foster care after her sister is hospitalized following yet another overdose, she flees with them until they land in the sleepy town of Bethlehem just before Christmas and a series of kindnesses and coincidences gives the trio a chance at happiness.

On December 14, 1997, a made-for-television film based on the book was aired on CBS as a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, and is now on DVD. The movie was directed by John Erman, screenplay by Maria Nation and William Hanley. The movie is rated PG-13 for some abusive treatment of a child, and is 120 minutes including commercials. The movie was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Cast:
Julie Harris - Lenora Nelson
Jena Malone - Ellen Foster
Ted Levine - Bill Hammond
Glynnis O'Connor - Charlotte Nelson Hammond
Debra Monk - Aunt Nadine
Kimberly J. Brown - Dora
Barbara Garrick - Aunt Betsy
Kate Burton - Abigail
Zeljko Ivanek - Chief Inspector
Lynne Moody - Mrs. Douglas
Bill Nunn - Mr. Douglas
Allison Jones - Starletta Douglas
Amanda Peet - Julia Hobbs
Timothy Olyphant - Roy Hobbs
[edit]

At the lush Evenswood estate in Concord, Massachusetts, Edith Adelon (Cari Shayne), a beautiful orphan, lives as the paid companion to the daughter of the wealthy Hamilton family, although they regard her as one of their own. Years ago, Henry Hamilton (Tom Conti) saved Edith from an Italian orphanage at the request of his long-deceased brother. Now, Edith is his daughter Amy's (Brigitta Dau) prized friend and confidante. As the Hamiltons await a trio of visitors for the annual Greens Cup horse race, Beatrice Hamilton (Meredith Baxter) asks for Edith's help in finding a suitable husband for a cousin, Ida Glenshaw (Brigid Walsh Brannagh), with one of two visiting eligible bachelors. But when it becomes clear that both the young men have affection for Edith and not Ida, jealousy soon develops, leading to malicious conniving and brutal backstabbing. Despite the growing love between Edith and one of the young suitors, because of their conflicting social classes, the couple is reminded time and again that their love can never be. The Inheritance is a story that centers on an innocent young woman's struggle to make sense of her position within the Hamilton household and in society, and the love she feels for her patrons, as well as for a young man she can never marry.

2016 film by Roger Spottiswoode