Love Takes Wing
Written by	Rachel Stuhler (teleplay) Janette Oke (novel)
Directed by	Lou Diamond Phillips
Starring	Sarah Jones Jordan Bridges Haylie Duff Lou Diamond Phillips
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Producers	Kyle A. Clark Stephen Niver
Editor	Colleen Halsey
Original release
Network	Hallmark Channel
Release	April 4, 2009

Love Takes Wing is a Christian drama and the seventh TV movie based on a series of books by Janette Oke. It aired on Hallmark Channel on April 4, 2009.^[1] Lou Diamond Phillips directed from a script by Rachel Stuhler, based on the book Love Takes Wing by Janette Oke.^[1]

It is the seventh movie in an ongoing series that includes Love Comes Softly (2003), Love's Enduring Promise (2004), Love's Long Journey (2005), Love's Abiding Joy (2006), Love's Unending Legacy (2007), and Love's Unfolding Dream (2007), and Love Finds a Home (2009), as well as two 2011 prequels, Love Begins, Love's Everlasting Courage, and Love's Christmas Journey.

Plot

Mourning her husband's recent death, Dr. Belinda Simpson (Sarah Jones) arrives in the tiny town of Sikeston to fill the post of town physician. Once there she discovers that many of the town’s residents, including children at an orphanage run by Miss Hattie Clarence (Cloris Leachman), have fallen ill or died from an unknown ailment. She soon wonders if she's in over her head, despite reassurances from her best friend Annie (Haylie Duff) and Lee (Jordan Bridges), the town blacksmith.

Sikeston's residents are distrustful of Belinda's abilities as a doctor because she's a woman. Many of them don't even want her to help the orphans, whom they blame for infecting the rest of the town; some would be happy to see the orphanage close altogether. Opposed by what seems like the entire town, Belinda must trust in her abilities, her friends, and her faith to guide her.^[1]

Cast

Differences From The Novel

• The book picks up two years after the last novel.
• None of the events depicted in this film occur in the novel.
• Belinda goes to Boston with Virginia Stafford-Smyth to continue caring for her. She does not go to Boston to become a doctor as depicted in the film Love's Unfolding Dream. In fact, Belinda only trains as a nurse in the novels.
• Clark and Marty are present in the novel, but not in the film.
• Belinda is a single woman in the novel. She marries her husband Drew in the final novel, Love Finds a Home. With the exception of Belinda herself, the majority of the characters in the film never exist in the book.

Reception

The premiere of Love Takes Wing was moderately successful for Hallmark Channel, delivering a solid showing among demo ratings and deliveries, particularly among female viewers. The original movie ranked in the top five for selected demographics, and ranked as the second-highest-rated ad-supported cable movie of the day and week delivering a 2.4 household rating with 2.1 million homes, over 2.8 million total viewers and 3.9 million unduplicated viewers. This performance helped the network rank #2 for the night with a 2.0 household rating.^[2]