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*Daniel's Daughter*
Daniel's Daughter
	DVD cover
Genre	Drama
Written by	Tracy Rosen
Directed by	Neill Fearnley
Starring	Laura Leighton; Sebastian Spence
Theme music composer	Ian Thomas
Country of origin	Canada
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	Gerald W. Abrams; Susan Murdoch
Producer	David Till
Cinematography	François Dagenais
Editor	Ralph Brunjes
Running time	88 minutes
Production company	QVF
Original release
Network	Hallmark Channel
Release	January 12, 2008

Daniel's Daughter is a 2008 Canadian television film directed by Neill Fearnley. The film is about a magazine editor who returns to her small hometown to fulfill a request from her estranged father.^[1]

Plot

Starting in 1982 New Kerry, Massachusetts, young Cate Mandighan's mother Marie dies. Her father decides to send her to live with overseas relatives she has never met. Before leaving, her father promises her to one day look for her and asks her to write in her journal every day. Twenty six years later, Cate is a highly successful editor-in-chief of a popular lifestyle magazine in New York City, which helps women with problems. She is engaged to the older Stewart, a powerful media tycoon with two grown children. Their engagement is widely described in the media, and although they seem the perfect couple, Cate has trouble accepting his refusal to ever have children again.

One day, Cate receives a package from her father, who has recently died. In his letter, he expresses his regret for never having looked her up and requests her to scatter his ashes in New Kerry, with his friends Cavanaugh and Donahue, two Irish singers, in presence. She initially refuses to do as her father wishes, because she has always felt abandoned by him. She finally decides to head back to New Kerry, though, assisted by her personal assistant Jeffrey.

In New Kerry, Cate has trouble adjusting to small-town life, still maintaining her upper class lifestyle. She meets Connor Bailey, a man who makes her realize what she really wants in life. They fall in love, but Cate is reluctant to give in to her true feelings, remembering her proposal to Stewart. She decides to focus herself on her father's last request, which is troubled by Cavanaugh and Donahue's refusal to be in the same room together. She tries to help them reconcile their estranged friendship and while doing so, grows closer to Connor.

In the end, she scatters her father's ashes with Cavanaugh and Donahue in presence, and returns to New York City. She is swept by Connor's unexpected visit, who has followed her to admit that he is in love with her. As she is about to kiss him, she is caught by Stewart, who is not really upset with Cate's announcement that she does not want to spend the rest of her life with him. As he leaves, Cate and Connor are finally free to be with each other.

Cast

Laura Leighton as Catherine 'Cate' Madighan
Sebastian Spence as Connor Bailey
Ruth Marshall as Dr. Candice Keller
Derek McGrath as Jim Cavanaugh
Brandon Firla as Jeffrey Lerner
Kelli Fox as Fiona^[2]
Martin Doyle as Donahue
Barry Flatman as Stewart^[2]
Brad Borbridge as Craig Beamish
Brendan Wall as Daniel Madighan
McKenzi Scott as Marie Madighan
Shae Norris as Young Cate
Caprice Herjavec as Young Fiona
Olivia Palenstein as Erin McManus
London Angelis as Seamus
Dorly Jean-Louis as Talisha
Neill Fearnley as Judge

Production

On October 1, 2007, it was announced Laura Leighton would star in a Hallmark Channel movie, Daniel's Daughter. By the time, production had already begun in Toronto.^[3] Filming took place entirely in Ontario.^[4]

Reception

After its premiere, Daniel's Daughter ranked as the highest rated ad-supported cable movie of the week.^[5] A total of 4.1 million people viewed the premiere.^[5] The film boosted the channel to rank as the highest-rated cable network in Prime Time for the day.^[5] It also ranked #1 in the time period.^[5]

The film was received with mixed reviews, although most critics were more positive about this film than the general Hallmark Channel Original Movie.^[6] Variety wrote: 'Solid performances and scenic locations help bring a little heft to what's otherwise a pretty standard yarn about a woman whose idyllic life is shaken up by a long-deferred trip home to bury her father'.^[6] 'There's a breezy quality to the movie that goes down easily'.^[6] It sparked Leighton to do another Hallmark Channel Original Movie; Mending Fences (2009).

Daniel's Daughter is among the few Hallmark Channel films which received a DVD release.