Creating Some Enduring Love
It's been a few years since Clark (Dale Midkiff) took Marty (Katherine Heigl) in to look after his daughter and now they have family of 3 with Missy (January Jones) now grown up and teaching at the local school. One day whilst out chopping wood Clark is startled and ends up injuring himself with the axe and if it wasn't for a mysterious stranger passing by would have bled to death. With Clark forced to rest up for a few weeks Missy and her younger brothers try to manage the land but it is too much for them. Having watched Missy struggle with the land the mysterious stranger who goes by the name of Nate (Logan Bartholomew) comes down to help with the work and the appreciative Clark offers him a job for as long as wants it. Despite not the best of starts Nate and Missy get grow close but things are complicated by well to do surveyor Grant (Mackenzie Astin) who also has a thing for Missy.
"Love's Enduring Promise" is the second movie in this series of TV movies adapted from Janette Oke novels and the good news is that you don't need to have watched the previous movie to be able to watch this one. Yes knowing the back story of how Clark and Marty came to be helps paint a bigger picture but the main story is self contained, it is the same with the rest of the movies in the series. And like with all the other movies the best way to describe "Love's Enduring Promise" is to say it has the wholesome charm of the old TV series "The Little House on the Prairie".
So what about what actually goes on in "Love's Enduring Promise" well we have some drama with Clark injuring himself, we have some romance as Missy, Nate and Grant end up in a love triangle, there is of course some humour to make it easy going. But most importantly it has a wholesomeness which means that whilst there is nothing original going on and a lot of it could be conceived a corny the gentle moral basis makes it pleasant. Not only pleasant but also beautiful with great scenery as well which helps carry some of the movies more cornier scenes such as one featuring running from a swarm of bees.
Aside from that well alongside the attractive landscape we also have an attractive cast with the focus of this movie being more on Missy and Nate than on Clark and Marty. Now as in this movie Missy is grown up we have a new actress playing her and we have the attractive and charming January Jones who has a cuteness about her. We also have Logan Bartholomew as Nate who is sort of the tall, dark, silent type which allows for a bit of mystery surrounding who he really is.
What this all boils down to is that "Love's Enduring Promise" is a solid follow up to "Love Comes Softly" advancing the story a few years and putting the focus on Missy but holding on to the wholesome charm which is at the heart of this series of movies.
