A pregnant Dr. Annie Watson (Haylie Duff) is going to stay with her best friend, Dr. Belinda Owens (Sarah Jones) while her husband Peter is off on a surveying job.[2] Annie's mother-in-law Mary (Patty Duke), a seen-it-all midwife whose homeopathic remedies and folksy wisdom are at odds with Belinda’s scientific knowledge, comes along. Belinda has a patient, Mabel McQueen, with postnatal anaemia which she succeeds to treat after a few ups and downs despite her tough husband who rejects the tonic due to it being the cause of his sister's death. As Belinda deals with the headaches Mary is causing, she must also address issues at home. While her adopted daughter Lillian (Courtney Halverson) discovers the joys and pains of first love, Belinda and her husband Lee (Jordan Bridges) find their own relationship suffering over Belinda’s inability to get pregnant. Just as the town learned to put its faith in Belinda as their doctor, Belinda must learn to accept that the best guidance for her own problems may come from unlikely sources. Annie gives birth to a daughter, Melinda (Lindy), and the movie ends with Mary hopping into a buggy to leave and Belinda whispering something in her ear. When her husband asks what she said, the answer is: "Oh, I just told her that I'll need a midwife soon."[1]
Lee and Lillian are not from the novel, as are many other characters and situations. Belinda is still unmarried in this novel, and marries Drew Simpson at the close of the novel.
Missie and Marty, the original female leads from the earlier novel series, are also present in the novel whereas they are absent in this adaptation.
Anachronisms
The pennies Mrs. McQueen gave to Lillian at Belinda's office have an image of the Lincoln Memorial on them. The Lincoln Memorial did not appear on pennies until 1959.
