Wind at My Back (1996)
A recently widowed mother loses her children to a cold mother-in-law in Ontario during the Great Depression.
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Episode 1 - Four Walls and a Roof: Part 1
Release Date: 1 Dec. 1996It's the summer of 1932, and the Depression is taking its toll on the people of Ontario. Jack and Honey Bailey own a hardware store in North Bridge, and Jack, understanding the hardships of the townsfolk, provides credit to whoever needs it, which seems to be everybody. Honey is a little more business oriented with their customers, but that does not prevent the hardware store from going under and the Baileys declaring bankruptcy. Honey's brother, Joe Callaghan, is not of much assistance to his sister's family as he too is just scraping by running his rooming house; he...
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Episode 2 - Four Walls and a Roof: Part 2
Release Date: 1 Dec. 1996In North Bridge, Honey and Joe are just scraping by. Honey can't find a job but is determined if only for the sake of her family. But she is no where near able yet to reunite her family. In New Bedford, May admits that she sees the arrangement with all three children as being permanent, never giving Honey the children ever again. Despite warming up to their Aunt Grace who personally can relate to the boys' situation, Hub and Fat are rebellious and Hub in particular is defiant. Bob thinks that splitting up the boys would be the best solution, but May is equally adamant...
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Episode 3 - No Way of Telling
Release Date: 8 Dec. 1996Honey's financial fortunes take a turn for the better as she finally gets a job, albeit a poorly paying one, as a bookkeeper/clerk at Molloy's Grocery Store. Even the boys have a job as George Murphy, one of the mine managers, is going away on a much needed vacation and needs someone to look after his dog, Pal. Joe's fortunes are not as good. The bank is foreclosing on the mortgage on his rooming house. He wants to start a catalog business, but obviously the bank won't lend him the money. He tells Honey that he is selling the rooming house to finance the catalog ...
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Episode 4 - A Family of Independent Means
Release Date: 15 Dec. 1996Honey's economic fortunes again take a turn for the worse. The bank is increasing the rent on the apartment, and she loses her job at Molloy's Grocery Store. She is thinking of moving to faraway Toronto, where she suspects there are more jobs than in North Bridge. She needs the company of her children now more than ever. However May is threatening to decrease the boys' visits to North Bridge to once a month, in part because she wants to shield escort Grace from the company of a high school beau, Judd Wainwright, with whom Grace got reacquainted on the bus trip and who...
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Episode 5 - My Dog Pal
Release Date: 22 Dec. 1996The boys, especially Fat, are getting emotionally attached to Pal. Fat even wants to keep him. May, on the other hand, is totally exasperated by Pal's antics. It gets worse for May when George Murphy is tied up on his vacation, which he needs to extend by two weeks. Since the boys are starting school and May does not want to look after the dog, the Baileys make arrangements with Max to look after Pal for the additional two weeks. This new arrangement does not stop Pal from wandering back to the Bailey household and his friends, Fat and Hub. Pal's latest antics start a...
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Episode 6 - Something from Nothing
Release Date: 5 Jan. 1997Honey has moved to Toronto in the prospect of a job. She manages to get work in a garment factory as a seamstress, but the hours are long and the conditions harsh. Because of the conditions and being worn out, Honey comes down with a chest infection and is fired from work. She is more destitute as, still sick, the hospital won't let her stay since she can't pay. Back in New Bedford, everyone is unaware of Honey's situation. May thinks that it would be good for Hub to learn some responsibility and as such Bob gets him a job on Wick Thompson's farm on weekends doing ...
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Episode 7 - Moonshine Struck
Release Date: 12 Jan. 1997Honey is back in New Bedford, living in May's house with the boys, and working in the mine office under Bob's supervision. On the invitation of Honey's co-worker, Marjorie Behan, Honey joins Marjorie's informal social grouping of single friends. Not specifically looking for a new man in her life, Honey nonetheless attracts the attention of a couple of men. The one who seems to have her initial affections is Percy Ardley, a constable with the New Bedford Police Department. Percy is a proper Englishman with, to use Fat's description, a swelled head. Most of the men in ...
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Episode 8 - Train to Nowhere
Release Date: 19 Jan. 1997Max, the new English teacher and aspiring playwright, is encouraged by Honey and Grace to submit a one-act play to National Public Radio for their serialized mystery program with the chance of winning one of three prizes of a new Packard. Although Max does not win, he gets an encouraging rejection letter asking for more submissions from him for one-act plays. Since the rejection was due to what the radio station characterized as wooden dialog, Honey and Grace think that Max would benefit by having his play actually performed on stage so that he can listen to real ...
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Episode 9 - Aunt Grace's Wedding
Release Date: 26 Jan. 1997May's latest town project is opening a mission to assist the down and out in New Bedford. This worthwhile project does have its detractors, such as Max, as the mission is only available to townsfolk and not to the many transients passing through town. And as the mission is reaping all the town's donations, Max's soup kitchen for the transients is no longer getting any donations. Meanwhile, Grace is invited on her first official date with Judd Wainwright, to a mutual friend's out-of-town wedding. Grace so wants to go but doesn't want to tell her mother the reason why ...
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Episode 10 - No Place Like Home
Release Date: 2 Feb. 1997Joe Callaghan, Honey's brother, makes an inauspicious return to New Bedford. He is now totally down and out. In the six months since Joe absconded with Honey's savings - six months in which Honey has not heard from him - he has dabbled in various businesses, some legitimate and some not so legitimate, but none that has panned out. Although May helps Joe get out of the New Bedford jail after an altercation with Sergeant Stoneman, she treats him like any other hobo and wants him to leave town. However Joe has other ideas. He wants to be with family and has holed up in ...
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Episode 11 - Chasing Rainbows
Release Date: 9 Feb. 1997Honey's birthday is approaching and the boys want to get her something special. Instead of a little knick-knack, what Hub thinks would be the best gift is a visit from Violet. This gift may prove to be difficult to get as May will not allow it. Hub, with Max's help, even drives the three hours to Hugh and Matilda's to convince them of such. Although Matilda eventually gives in, Hugh, Matilda and May obviously don't have any intention of giving Violet back to Honey beyond this visit. But for this visit, Hub and Fat need to raise some money for the round trip bus fare ...
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Episode 12 - Moving Mountains
Release Date: 16 Feb. 1997Grace receives some devastating news for her ego. Judd has decided to call off the wedding, as he is moving west to British Columbia without her. He did not feel that he and the Bailey family were a good match. But Grace, feeling humiliated, decides not to tell anyone, and even buys herself an engagement ring to continue with the façade. Honey inadvertently gives Grace an idea of how to escape her troubles. Meanwhile, Hub, still continuing with his never-ending quest to earn money for the "bring Violet home" fund, lets this single-mindedness affect all else in his ...
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Episode 13 - Back in My Arms Again
Release Date: 23 Feb. 1997Despite May giving the boys her assurance that she will let Violet come back home, Honey and the boys continue with their preoccupation with the 'bring Violet back home' fund since they do not trust May to keep her word. In an effort to expand her hairdressing business, Honey decides to go to a 2-day course in North Bridge to get her hairdressing diploma. And Hub and Fat take more direct measures by going to speak to Mr. Walker, the bank manager, about a creative solution in buying the house. Hub's single-mindedness with getting Violet back continues as his school ...