The film opens with someone riding through the countryside in a limo, past the amish farms and farmers. The lady in the limo hands an envelope to one of the amish women, and requests that she only give it to the intended recipient, and amish girl. When the recipient's parents open the letter instead, things start to go wrong. The young amish girl has been promised to the local amish bigshot, but we eavesdrop on her flashback of her first love, so we can see that she is not happy with the wedding plan.This is pretty much a chick flick, and it has some mistakes. When she buries her guitar, there is a giant hole in the ground for her guitar case, but just a small bit of dirt beside it... and the leaves at the edge of the hole are not even disturbed. In addition, there are many small details that are not correct in a story about the amish. Apparently this is just the first part of a trilogy, so we should not expect all issues to be resolved....It's a very heavy, sad, serious story. One hopes that if the rest of the trilogy is made into movies, things turn out a tad more happy and upbeat for "Katie", the central character in the story. In this one, things go downhill for her throughout the movie. Directed by Michael Landon Jr, who seems to direct a lot of films for Hallmark Channel.

I thought that though it was not 100% true to the book, it did follow it pretty well for the time crunch. I did notice some things that were not true to the Amish, but it is also a hard thing to tell because many of the orders differ in their rules. I really enjoyed seeing Danielle Panabaker as Katie, I thought she expressed the emotions of the situation strongly! The entire cast was strong, with the exception of David Topp, who was okay, but seemed young for the roll, and was nothing like the young man described. Over all I felt like it was a nice transition to the screen and very worth watching if you are a Beverly Lewis fan.

Absolutely lovely story about the coming of age of a young adopted woman. Especially impressed with the performances of Danielle Panabaker, who really nailed the Amish accent, and newcomer David Topp, who I hope will be brought back in what is sure to be a series of wonderful, family friendly movies. We are looking forward to the rest of the series.Would like to congratulate Michael Landon Jr. for choosing a terrific cast and crew, the beautiful filming of the movie makes it even more enjoyable. Also enjoyed the look inside the Amish culture, and, while I realize it may not all be exactly accurate, it is a compelling story which kept our whole family interested. We will be very disappointed if Hallmark does not decide to continue and finish the series. Would really like to see the same cast back for continuity, and because they were all really great!

I understand the idea that this is a Hallmark movie and it was probably done in a way that would not offend the Amish. That being said, the movie doesn't do justice to Lewis' book on a whole. The plot feels very rushed, and it appears as if Hallmark was trying not to offend the Amish with their portrayals. In the movie, as compared to in the book, even Katie's shunning seems to happen much too quickly. The flashbacks lack the meat that appeared in the novel, and the portrayal of the community was very stiff. I was unable to appreciate the movie itself because I've been so busy expecting it to be close to the book. Hopefully if Hallmark decides to continue the series it will be done in better continuity with the novels.