A Season for Miracles

When her sister Berry is hospitalized after an overdose and social worker Ruth Doyle moves to place Berry's two young children in foster care, their aunt Emilie Thompson takes the boy and girl and leaves town with them. Stranded in the small town of Bethlehem just before Christmas with little money, Emilie has to find shelter for the night while keeping the children safe, and the family's situation draws the attention of local residents, including a police captain. What follows is a series of kindnesses and coincidences that slowly opens a way forward for the trio.

The film is a Hallmark Entertainment television production directed by Michael Pressman, released in December 1999. It came fairly late in his filmography, after features including Those Lips, Those Eyes, Some Kind of Hero, Shootdown and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. Maria Nation wrote the screenplay, and the cast is led by Carla Gugino, with Kathy Baker, David Conrad, Laura Dern, Patty Duke and Lynn Redgrave among the credited performers, 22 in all.

On IMDb the film holds a 7.6 rating from roughly 2,300 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 7 from a much smaller base of 38 votes. The stronger showing on the larger site suggests a durable following for this Christmas drama, even though the genre's built-in seasonal audience keeps its footprint modest.