If I could give a rating lower than 1 star, this movie would deserve it. It has almost no connection to the reality of a great and true story and should never been made like this.The true story of Mary Draper Ingles in readily available and like others, I read the novel of "Follow the River" by Mr. Thom and it was outstanding and hugely impressive story of a real American heroine. Her real story deserves to be told as awful as it was without the revisionism of someone politically correct with little connection to the true story other than names.Because I loved the Thom novel so much, I sought out and bought the manuscript written by her son in the early 1800s. Looking at her son's account (as told to him by his mother and father), Thom did very little embellishment to the true account, whereas the writers of this movie changed most everything to make it a happy little story.Don't waste your time or money to see this version, get the basics from and Internet search and a fuller understanding of the reality by reading Thom's novel.Mary Draper Ingles was probably one of the strongest women that I have ever heard (or not heard) of, not only physically, but mentally, spiritually, and of will. She deserves an accurate portrayal of her losses and her indomitable will. She is a true heroine to me, not this worse than sugar-coated fairy tale.

This was probably the worst adaptation of a book I have ever seen. The book was absolutely unforgettable, the movie is very forgettable. This is not to say the actors were bad. I thought Sheryl Lee, Renee O'Connor and Eric Schweig all did credible jobs acting, considering the Political Correct dribble that was passed off as writing. If I were James Alexander Thom I would NEVER option another book to Hollywood considering the treatment of this book. If you want the real story of a woman who trekked nearly 1000 miles from Northern Kentucky to her farm in Virginia as winter was coming on. No weapons, no blankets, her clothes rotting off, and the only food was that which was found along the way, Follow the River by Jim Thom is the book for you.

Several years ago I read this book. I loved the book. So when I saw it was on TV this afternoon I decided to watch it.I know that books are nothing like the movie and movies are never like the book but after 30 minutes I had to turn this drivel off.It was bad enough that it is not accurate to the book or even history but the fact that everyone looked like a character from a romance novel just sent me over the edge.Just a bad bad movie. Not even worth writing anymore about. But it is seems I have to write more to get this posted! It amazes me that people will take the time & money to make movies based on books and then just take the title and character names. This movie is a great example of why if you are to read the book you can't get away with watching the movie!

This is one of my favorite movies to watch. I so admire the main character's, Mary Ingles', courage and perseverance under great trial. I had a chance to read the story of the real Mary Ingles that this was based on, and what an amazing lady she was!Good performances by Sheryl Lee, Eric Schweig, and Ellen Burstyn. Hallmark told this tale without a lot of violence, no profanity, and no trashy sex. This film is well worth seeing.