The Memory Keeper's Daughter on Lifetime

The NY Times best selling book comes to life in this beautifully acted movie which premiers April 12 on Lifetime Television, with encore presentations the next two nights. It's a powerful story filled with emotion and heart, called The Memory Keeper's Daughter.

Dermot Mulroney stars as Dr. David Henry, an orthopedist who must deliver his twins one stormy night when the obstetrician cannot make it to the clinic. His wife Norah (Gretchen Mol) is overjoyed at the birth of their son and no one expected twins. In mid 60s the technology wasn't as advanced as it is today, obviously. Norah is exhausted and when the second baby, a girl, arrives, Norah is pretty much unconscious. The girl is a "Mongoloid," what we now call Down Syndrome. David lost a sister to this disease when they were young and that event almost destroyed his mother. Not wanting to put his wife through the same torture, he gives the baby girl to the nurse with instructions to deliver it to a home where they take care of special people. But once there, Caroline (Emily Watson) cannot leave the baby at the home. She decides to raise it herself and immediately takes off to start life anew with the little baby.

In the meantime, David informs his wife that they had twins but the girl, Phoebe, died when she was born. He thought getting this shock over in the beginning was the best for all of them. But the best intentions are not always right.

Both David and Norah are haunted in different ways by the loss of their daughter. As the years go by, Caroline sends photos of Phoebe so David can see the girl is doing well. But Norah never knows she has a living daughter, and her grief over the loss of her baby is overwhelming. Add the guilt David feels, and the family is completely broken. The years do not heal them, however Phoebe is living a full, happy life with Caroline and her husband. She is loved and getting along very well, which is something David never counted on. He thought she would not make it into her teens. But as he sees his son grow, he finally understands he made the wrong decision all those years ago.

This is a powerful saga of one family torn apart by grief, guilt, and remorse - and it's well worth watching.

The book was USA Today's Book of the Year in 2006. This movie is sure to be enjoyed by those who read the book and those who did not.