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 - Coming of Age
Release Date: 5 Nov. 2000Fat is feeling grown up, yet no one is treating him as such. To show himself he is, he gets into a gambling ring of older youth and quickly gets swindled not only of some of his mother's pocket change, but his hat and his new pair of shoes. Not able to tell his parents, he refuses help from Hub in getting his things back. Fat ends up getting some unexpected and anonymous help. Honey is feeling alienated as some people are still treating her like a leper because of her past tuberculosis. She wants to reopen her hairdressing business but Callie refuses to rent the old ...
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Episode 2 - Oh Happy Day
Release Date: 12 Nov. 2000Hub receives a reward for a past good deed. Enjoying the feeling that he significantly altered the life of a total stranger in a positive way, he continues to do good deeds, helping out a stranded adolescent transient girl, Fiona McCaul. This good deed in turn results in another windfall for Hub. Although not doing it for "rewards", Hub ponders how he can continue to do good in his life. His mother has reopened her hairdressing salon, but business is non-existent due in part to her competition, Pearl Disher, undercutting her prices. The Suttons believe advertising ...
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Episode 3 - The Trick Cyclist
Release Date: 3 Dec. 2000Grace and Van come back to New Bedford early from their honeymoon on news that May is ill. Initially thinking that May is just being dramatic, Grace is heartbroken to see that her mother had a stroke, is paralyzed on the left side of her body and can barely speak. The question now remains is who will take care of May during her recovery period, May who needs around the clock supervision. Bob, the only surviving son, refuses to even come back to New Bedford unless his mother is on her deathbed. Honey, the martyr, wants to take primary responsibility as she feels she ...
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Episode 4 - New Girls in Town
Release Date: 10 Dec. 2000While one female leaves town, two arrive. The departure is Grace, who has moved with Van to his summer house outside of Toronto. Jim is still grieving his loss of Grace and vows to be more assertive in his life by seizing opportunities. The first arrival is Rebecca 'Becca' Graham, a precocious new girl in Fat and Pritchard's class. For both boys, it's love at first sight, and they battle for Rebecca's affections. As she is attracted in part to intelligence, Pritchard has the initial upper hand. However, Fat, who now wants to be called Henry in front of Rebecca to seem...
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Episode 5 - The Spanish Prisoner
Release Date: 7 Jan. 2001Grace and Van arrive at Lakeview, Van's grand summer house on the shores of Lake Ontario. There, Grace meets for the first time a collection of servants and house guests: Paloma, the Spanish cook/housekeeper; Frederick, the mute chauffeur and butler; Nigel Moss, the proper English gentleman friend; and Enzo, an Italian operatic baritone. Enzo is only his stage name and persona to the outside world, as he is really Stewart McGregor, a Scottish Haligonian who he thinks would not be able to sell tickets to an Italian opera audience. One of Van's friends, Harry Turnbull, ...
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Episode 6 - Marriage of True Minds
Release Date: 14 Jan. 2001The men in the Sutton household are facing problems with the respective women in their lives. Henry likes Rebecca and anonymously has been writing her romantic, poetic letters, which she loves. She not only loves the letters themselves but also the mystery. But when she mentions that she'd like to find out who her secret admirer is, Pritchard pipes up that the letters are from him. Fuming, Henry decides that he needs to get back at Pritchard, which he manages to do with a little help from Hub. In the natural evolution of Hub and Laura's relationship, she is waiting ...
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Episode 7 - For God and Country
Release Date: 21 Jan. 2001Jim is trying a new looser attitude and with it comes a new looser look in his attire. Toppy has finished her book and has sent it unsolicited to a publisher. Henry is looking for new chess challenges. And Callie wants to win and influence friends, at least that's what the title of the book she's reading infers. After meddling in one private conversation after another in an effort to make and influence friends, Callie does manage to have a meaningful discussion, this one with Hub, who tells her that he is thinking about becoming a priest. Beyond Father Fitzroy at the ...
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Episode 8 - Enter Eddie Jackson
Release Date: 28 Jan. 2001Grace returns to New Bedford. She is suspect of Juanita's method of rehabilitation for her mother. Grace feels that such work will give May false hope about recuperation. However, May's determination convinces Grace that Juanita may be right. Jim, with his new outlook on life, strikes up a friendship with Audrey Collins, the chess coach for nearby North Bridge. Jim is happily surprised that Audrey is as attracted to him as he is to her. Jack Miller makes a short stopover in New Bedford on his way to Halifax to catch a boat to Europe. He is running the marathon for the...
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Episode 9 - The Summer Plague
Release Date: 4 Feb. 2001Toppy hears from the publisher that they have accepted her book for publication. Hub is away working at a logging camp at Alawanda for the summer. Jim is also looking for a summer job, and Grace urges Callie to offer him a position at the radio station as the news announcer. Jim is grateful for the job, but when he finds out Grace was the one who recommended him, he is angry as he feels this recommendation is his consolation prize for letting her go as his girlfriend. But he comes around to the fact that Grace did it purely as a friend helping a friend. The entire ...
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Episode 10 - Reconciliation
Release Date: 11 Feb. 2001The annual Bell Award ceremony is taking place in New Bedford this year. Toppy is the Mistress of Ceremonies and entertainment coordinator, the latter task she is finding difficult due to lack of talent. She has Rebecca doing a Shakespearean reading, and that's about all. Maisey, the daughter of a saloon singer, wants to audition, but Toppy is skeptical of Maisey's talent or lack thereof. Toppy does eventually allow Maisey to audition but one setback after another prevents the audition from happening until it's too close to the actual event to hold auditions. Toppy ...
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Episode 11 - Crack in the Mirror
Release Date: 18 Feb. 2001Showdown in Durango, the latest adventures of Saturday serial character the Masked Rider, is showing at the local theater. Buck Howard aka the Masked Rider, is in New Bedford promoting the latest installment, his promotional activities including a radio interview with Jim, and a public appearance in character at the theater. Jim is excited as he, along with many of the kids of New Bedford, is a big fan of the serial. He quickly loses his idolatry of Buck Howard as Buck is a boorish drunk. When Buck is found drunk just before his scheduled interview, Callie talks Jim, ...
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Episode 12 - Secrets and Lies
Release Date: 1 Apr. 2001It seems as if secrets are running rampant in New Bedford. Toppy has just received copies of her just published book, but besides Honey and Grace, she does not want anyone to know that she is Lucinda Fairchild - the nom de plume she's used - until the book is well received. Grace discovers Van's secrets, which she confronts him about. Since Grace obviously knows the truth, he does not deny it. Toppy and by accident Rebecca are the only ones to whom Grace has confided about Van's real identity and the associated end of her marriage. Grace definitely does not want ...
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Episode 13 - Pay Back
Release Date: 1 Apr. 2001A chain letter is circulating around New Bedford. Some of the recipients are taking it seriously, some not so much so. There are some serious decisions taking place in the Sutton household. Hub is still thinking about becoming a priest, and his parents want to make sure he knows what that entails - especially with regards to female romantic relationships - and they want him to experience some of what life has to offer a young man before making a decision. Father Fitzroy is convinced Hub has the calling, and Laura is more relieved that it is Hub's thoughts about his ...