Love, Once and Always
Stars: Amanda Schull, Peter Porte, Vanessa Bell Calloway
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Synopsis (via Hallmark)
When Lucy’s childhood sweetheart plans to tear down the Gilded Age estate and replace it with a golf course, Lucy fights to preserve the historic mansion at all costs. As Lucy and Duncan set out to find a compromise, they learn that embracing the past may be the key to protecting the future.
Thoughts
Lucy lives in London and works in a museum. She is up for a big promotion to replace her POC boss, Isabelle. Everyone has british accents and speaks in british slang. She has a red-headed Canadian best friend, Josephine, (this time with a British accent), a doorman named Nigel, and calls trash rubbish. When she receives a “letter in the post,” informing her that her Great Aunt Grace has passed away and she is the heir to the Wyclef House (SIC) or rather she was bequeathed the mansion. Lucy must go back to “the States” to handle the estate in in person.
Back in the USA, Eleanor (played by the unbearable Dolores Drake who literally has scenes with a sheep as a costar), an employee of the estate picks Lucy up at the airport. Once Lucy arrives, she sees the place is in need of some TLC. The front door sticks and she charges the door to open it, falling through and into the arms of her highschool sweetheart, Duncan. Duncan was the son of the caretakers until they passed away and was taken in by Aunt Grace. Due to some mix up he is under the impression that he owns the house. She loves the magical and historical beauty of the 1890’s estate. He would prefer his condo in Boston and wants to sell the estate to turn it into a golf course. The argue, saying things like “Frank Lloyd Wrong,” and finally decide that he will stay in the west wing of his mansion and she will stay in the east wing of her mansion.
The next day they both go to the lawyer, Hannah. (Who Duncan is also conveniently dating, maybe?) She explains that they are both listed as owners of the estate in the will. Later, over waffles, they hatch a plan to fix the roof while Lucy looks for historical grants and Duncan tries to make some repairs in order to show the place for sale. They can’t get anything done because everything has historical significance, and Duncan just wants to sell some items at the auction to raise money for the repairs.
At the auction, they sell a painting for a lot of money and then romantically stroll around talking about the past. While in the historical district (I guess?) Lucy gets an idea to restore the estate to its original state and sell tours to guests, like a museum! She begins working on a proposal, as does Duncan, whomever has the better proposal to a billionaire investor will get the house.
Later in a gazebo (MY FAVORITE!) Lucy and Duncan talk about how they miss Aunt Grace and love the estate. They decide to join forces to create a golf course that doubles as a history park. We get montage of them cleaning, painting, looking at floor plans, and making repairs. While painting, a bucket of paint almost falls on Lucy, but Duncan pushes her out of the way getting paint on himself. All in the name of chivalry.
At “the festival” Duncan and Lucy decided to play some darts. Hannah shows up to challenge Lucy to a dart off, while being catty. Lucy wins and then goes for a walk around the festival with Duncan. They talk about how they are both single and then head back to the estate when the it begins to rain to warm up by the fire. Duncan asks her if she really wants that job promotion, she tells him she isn’t sure.
For some reason they throw the estate’s traditional ball to make their big pitches. As tradition would have it, the hosts are to do an opening dance. They decided to practice and are twirling around until they ALMOST kiss.
It’s the evening of the ball and Mr. Nevin (the billionaire, who is also a POC!) has arrived. Duncan and Lucy make their pitch and show him around the estate. After they get all dressed up Lucy and Duncan welcome their guests and start the first dance. They almost kiss when she gets her a call from work, who want to conference her in for a big meeting. It doesn’t go well. Neither does the pitch with Mr. Nevin, he declines their offer because it doesn’t make financial sense.
Lucy overhears, Duncan and Hannah talking about the plan they had to tear down the estate. (But only the part where he agrees with Hannah, not where he tells her he doesn’t want to tear it down anymore.) They have an argument and Lucy decides to fly back to London after accepting the promotion. (I guess her meeting didn’t go THAT bad.)
In the airport, Duncan chases Lucy down. He has a new proposal and asks her to give him just one more day to try to save the estate. They head to Mr. Nevin’s hotel, but run into a snag when ANOTHER town festival blocks the road. They run through the festival and pick up a Newton Town History book to give to Mr. Nevin. (They also give him a new business proposal that refinances some things…) Lucy decides to stay, for some reason. We flashforward to Lucy and Duncan at their new golf history museum and see that they are engaged now…. Hooray?
Side Note
So many stupid historical references!
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Overall rating
❤️ (1 Heart)
🍷🍷🍷🍷 (4 glasses of wine required)
*Photo Credit: © 2018 Crown Media United States, LLC
Do you have any idea where I can find the gray collared sweater the Lucy character wore towards the end of the movie? Sheer, jeweled collar?
Hi Diane! Thank you for your comment. I do not know where that sweater is from. I would recommend reaching out to Hallmark Channel on social media.