His rapid departure on the heels of this announcement leaves Sam horribly shocked, utterly confused, and oddly obsessed with Martha Stewart.

When she gets the devastating news that Lydia has decided to marry her longtime beau and move out, Sam takes on a second boarder for the basement space: a sullen, depressed college student.

Based on a best-seller by Elizabeth Berg, this made-for-TV movie stars Christine Lahti as Samantha Morrow, a middle-class mom deserted by her husband, David (Chris Potter).

In order to maintain the house for her and her son Travis (Mark Rendall), Samantha decides to take in boarders: her friend's mother Lydia (Rita Moreno) and a homeless young woman named Lavender Blue (Grace Lynn Kung).

Also on hand are an odd-jobs man named King (Daniel Baldwin), Samantha's highly-opinionated mother (Eva Marie Saint), and cable-TV home-design expert Colin Cowie (as himself).