A family so broken even the 'normal' daughter gets scraps. Prepare to ugly cry.
A young woman was left mentally disabled after a car crash twenty years previously, a condition which her mother has never come to accept. Thus she favors her other "normal" daughter and basically tolerates the other daughter's existence. It also doesn't help that her husband also has some mental disabilities. As the family slowly divides, the older daughter's unconditional love rises.
Acting
Annabeth Gish's restrained rage as the overlooked 'good' daughter.
Writing
Refuses easy redemption for the monstrous mother.
Director
Paul Wendkos
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Paul Wendkos directed over 100 TV movies; this late-career work shows his mastery of small-screen intimacy where silence hurts more than dialogue.
Made-for-TV disability narratives in the 90s rarely centered disabled actors—Carroll's casting as Libby was quietly radical for the era.
US
