The Stranger Within is a 1990 American made-for-television thriller film directed by Tom Holland and starring Rick Schroder, Kate Jackson and Chris Sarandon.

Mare is reluctant to take him in, fearing that he is playing a cruel joke, until he shares memories from the past and shows a scar from a stove burn that matches with Luke's.

He explains that he was raised in Idaho, and is now on a rest stop in Minnesota before returning to New York City to take a job.

Mark then claims that Emerald City was a lie told to cover up his much worse past, and assures Dan of his credibility by showing him a birth mole that Luke also had.

Mare is unaware of his responsibility in all these occurrences, though, and is further manipulated by Mark's claim that Dan fell in the water due to his fight with her over their marriage views.

While Mark is distracted while digging a hole to bury the two, the officer manages to weakly move his arm enough to indicate his bullet-belt, and so, Mare retrieves the gun and reloads it.

The New York Times called The Stranger Within "a frightening, well-done, made-for-TV thriller with a fine performance by Rick Schroder.

[..] Schroder shows remarkable range in this change-of-pace performance where he plays an unsympathetic and unappealing character with great energy and intelligence.