Daphne Zuniga & Fay Dunaway to Star in Hallmark Movie "A Family Thanksgiving"  9/13/10

IS FAMILY LIFE BETTER THAN ACHIEVING PROFESSIONAL WEALTH AND SUCCESS?

DAPHNE ZUNIGA AND ACADEMY AWARD WINNER FAYE DUNAWAY EXPLORE THE ULTIMATE CASE OF WHAT IF...? 'A FAMILY THANKSGIVING,' A HALLMARK CHANNEL ORIGINAL MOVIE WORLD PREMIERE, NOVEMBER 6

A wealthy, successful corporate lawyer (Daphne Zuniga, "One Tree Hill") is living the high life in New York City with little time for anything except her lavish lifestyle until a close encounter with a bizarre mystic (Academy Award Winner Faye Dunaway, "Network") drops her into an alternative reality to see what her life might have been like had she made different choices in "A Family Thanksgiving," a Hallmark Channel Original Movie World Premiere, Saturday, November 6 (9 p.m. ET/PT, 8C). Hallmark Channel is the biggest holiday destination in television.

Thanksgiving is coming and Claudia, a self-absorbed, workaholic lawyer is being badgered by her sister Jen to come home for the holiday. After promising Jen she wouldn't miss Thanksgiving, Claudia is instead delighted when her boss appoints her to head up a team of lawyers in the firm's hostile takeover of another company. If Claudia wins the case, she'll be made partner. Giddy over the opportunity, Claudia then realizes the caveat: working the weekend means missing Thanksgiving. While Claudia isn't looking forward to facing Jen's disappointment, she convinces herself that while Thanksgiving is just a family holiday, being made partner is worth the sacrifice.

While preparing her case, Claudia has several accidental brushes with a mysterious woman Gina who repeatedly tries to make an appointment to discuss the lawyer's future. Annoyed, Claudia sidesteps the eccentric stranger long enough to escape to a waiting limousine, which to her surprise is chauffered by Gina. Gina wastes no time slamming on the brakes, causing Claudia to bump her head and fall unconscious. When Claudia awakes, she makes the horrifying discovery that her old life no longer exists. Her fast-paced existence gone, Claudia discovers she is a suburban housewife with two children. As she stumbles through this alternate existence, desperately trying to get her old life back, Claudia finds she is becoming strangely comfortable in the role of loving wife and mother. After making great strides to become a more genuine, caring person, Claudia falls deeply in love with her life, husband and children just as Gina arrives to take her back to her former reality. Now, Claudia finds herself at a crossroads where she must choose between being the woman she used to love or this new woman who is loved by so many others.

"A Family Thanksgiving" is a Thankful Films Inc. Production. Lynne Bespflug, Daphne Zuniga, Michael R. Goldstein and Michael G. Larkin are the Executive Producers. Ian Hay produces. Neill Fearnley directs from a script by Emily Baer.

Source: Hallmark Press Release