The Magic of Ordinary Days is a Hallmark Hall of Fame production based on a novel of the same name by Ann Howard Creel and adapted as a teleplay by Camille Thomasson.

[1] It was directed by Brent Shields, produced by Andrew Gottlieb and stars Keri Russell, Skeet Ulrich, and Mare Winningham.

[2] Set during World War II, Olivia "Livy" Dunne is a Denver minister's young daughter who has become pregnant by a United States Navy flight instructor on furlough.

Livy is sent to a rural southeastern Colorado town to marry Ray Singleton, who operates his family farm.

She secretly writes to United States Navy Lieutenant Edward Brown, her baby's father.

She asks Livy to leave Ray to come stay with her in Denver, suggesting they make up stories of him drinking and being violent to justify it.

Ray is hurt to discover that she has continued to write to the lieutenant and angrily leaves to work the night shift at the beet factory.

She quickly phones the police to report her truck stolen by a German POW so they can arrest him, and also asks for a doctor as she has begun labor.

The premiere broadcast on CBS in 2005 attracted 18.7 million viewers, making it the highest-rated television film since the 2001-02 season.

In 2005, Robert Bianco of USA Today gave the film (3½ out of 4 stars), saying:[4] If only TV movies this good were ordinary events....Days does sometimes stress a link between "country" and "uncomplicated" that probably never existed.

But underneath the contrasts between Ray's simple ways and Livvy's more cultured upbringing is a binding, universal message about the need to accept the consequences of our acts.