“Thicker than Water” was originally a made-for-television movie produced by Hallmark. Natalie (Melissa Gilbert) is a leading lawyer in a high-powered firm. Her father is a judge, and a long tradition of honor and respectability runs in their family. When her father passes away, Natalie doesn’t expect skeletons to come tumbling out of the closet, but they do. He left a box full of letters and pictures from his first wife, a wife Natalie didn’t know he’d had. To make matters worse, her name was Maggie May and she was a rodeo queen.
Natalie’s not sure what to do with this information. Her own mother has been gone for years, and now with her father gone as well, she feels adrift. She decides to track down Maggie May and see what she can learn about her. What she discovers is that Maggie May has recently departed as well, but she meets Jess, Maggie May’s daughter. Unwilling to admit who she really is, Natalie tells Jess (Lindsay Wagner) that she’s a writer who has come to town to do a story on rodeo performers. Jess willingly shares Maggie May’s scrapbook.
As Natalie digs, she discovers that she and Jess share the same father, but she’s not sure how she feels about that. She comes from a world of silk suits and expensive cars, while Jess lives on a ranch and drives an old truck. But as she gets to know Jess and the people in that world, she finds herself intrigued. And when Jess’s lease on her land is put in jeopardy by a greedy owner, Natalie finds a way to legally solve the problem. Despite the differences between herself and Jess, Natalie learns that blood really is thicker than water, and along the way, she meets the man of her dreams. Not bad for a little icing on the cake . . .
This film was not rated.
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