Little did Imani (Krystal Pleasure Brown) understand how a lot her life was going to vary simply by being stranded within the diner wherein she works on account of a snowstorm in Heaven Down Right here. Together with her have been her boss Dan (Richard Harmon), native pastor Felix (Juan Riedinger), and, most significantly, hospice nurse Clara (Tina Lifford), who went on to introduce her to somebody who would change her and her kids’s lives.
Imani seen that Clara had a photograph of her as a child (and the birthmark to show it’s her), and the opposite girl requested what she knew about her adoption. “My dad and mom by no means gave me a lot data. After I bought older, I pushed, however they weren’t forthcoming. I figured it was one thing ugly like I used to be deserted, so I didn’t press.” Clara revealed that she knew who her grandmother is: her employer Nancy (Phylicia Rashad), whose daughter — Imani’s mom, Noelle — died. Noelle had a child woman named Denise Imani. “Your mom put a Star of Bethlehem on all of her art work similar to the one beneath your collarbone,” Clara advised her.
Imani struggled to consider it, however “you weren’t undesirable, and also you actually weren’t deserted,” the hospice nurse advised her. “You got to a loving household, and your delivery household has by no means stopped considering of you. You’re cherished.” She then took Imani and her children to satisfy Nancy, who, at first look, thought she was her daughter.
“It’s so loopy as a result of I all the time really feel like life is stranger than fiction. So the twist that occurs isn’t one thing I don’t consider that might actually occur, when she finds out that Tina’s character has been working along with her organic grandmother,” Brown advised TV Insider. “It’s such a revelation as a result of I consider that Imani has felt form of the outsider for a very long time. She was adopted by dad and mom who have been Scandinavian, so there was numerous cultural and societal variations that she couldn’t actually categorical and really feel, however she is aware of she was very cherished and given many alternatives by being adopted.”
She continued, “however having misplaced so many individuals in her life after which realizing that there’s somebody there that she will be able to join with and that her children can have a reference to is completely main. And it couldn’t occur at a greater time. It’s by no means too late to restore one thing that will appear damaged. And so the truth that she finds this out and that that connection is made and a brand new household comes from that’s, to me, simply heartbreaking, heart-wrenching, and delightful. And naturally, superbly masterfully executed by Phylicia Rashad. She is simply so magnetic and really easy to, I imply, love, clearly, however really easy to attach with in life and on digital camera that it was the present of items.”
Kailey Schwerman/Hallmark Media
And so whereas the twist is perhaps a shocking one, “that’s what religion brings. That’s what holding on can carry,” Brown identified. “I’ve had crazier issues occur to me, so it was actually stunning, and it appears possibly even farfetched, however stranger issues have occurred.”
Nancy additionally gave Imani a letter her mom left for her: “Dearest child woman, it has been the privilege of my life bringing you into this world. I write this letter to let you understand a couple of issues I want in your future. First, I want that you simply develop up in a household full of affection. I hope you embrace all the pieces this world has to supply and that you simply get to expertise the miracle of motherhood. Even for this transient second of time, it has remodeled my life in methods I by no means anticipated. I really like you, my candy.” Nancy defined that the non-public investigator she employed stored operating into useless ends, however now that they discovered one another, she wished to make up for misplaced time by having Imani and her children transfer in along with her.
“I believe this film has a giant theme of loneliness, and there’s simply a lot of those folks coping with their loneliness or feeling caught or feeling misunderstood or feeling annoyed, and to have the ability to break down these partitions and simply open up and nonetheless discover connection, I believe is actually, actually highly effective and actually one thing that’s wanted, particularly in instances this,” Brown shared. “Individuals get actually unhappy through the holidays numerous instances, which is why I believe Hallmark all the time has these hits as a result of folks need that goodness and to recollect that there’s pleasure and lightness and romance that surrounds their lives, and that’s attainable for them.”
Hallmark introduced some hope into Brown’s life in 2020 when she filmed One Royal Vacation, one of many first productions up and operating after the pandemic shutdown. (She’d been doing Hamilton on Broadway when all the pieces stopped.) Not solely was she grateful to be working however the film additionally gave her a neighborhood amidst the isolation, testing, and quarantining (all of which she needed to do to shoot the movie).
“To have the ability to soar in and begin engaged on one thing that seems like a salve and a balm to the spirit, simply speaking in regards to the holidays and romance and love and connection, it was very surreal in a method as a result of we have been dwelling in such a devastation and a tricky time, then to have the ability to go and be like, ‘Oh, I’m in this sort of wonderland bubble,’” she recalled. “However then the end result is with the ability to share that with different folks through the holidays and having them hopefully really feel slightly little bit of pleasure and reduction from a few of the isolation and chaos that was the pandemic.”
As for what Brown want to do subsequent if she does one other Hallmark film, “I need there to be magic,” she mentioned. “We go from very gritty and actual to, I don’t know, she finds out that she has magical powers on Christmas Eve, the flexibility to grant needs or one thing. I’ve all the time wished to do one thing slightly bit magical in that method. So that may be a enjoyable hybrid.”
