"Riding The Bus With My Sister"

"Riding The Bus With My Sister" is a heartwarming, tug at your heart story from Hallmark's Gold Crown Edition directed by Angelica Huston.

Rosie ODonnell does an excellent job of portraying Beth, the developmentally disabled sister living on her own and getting around on the bus system.  She knows all the drivers and all the bus routes -- It's her world and her circle of friends.

Beth has the safety net of her father, though, to call on when she needs assistance so, when he suddenly dies, she is lost and her caseworker requests that either her brother or sister spend three months with her helping her adjust to life without her father.

Beth's brother has a family and work in California so it falls to her older sister, Rachel, to take time away from her life in New York and her successful photography business.  Rachel (portrayed by Andie McDowell) has just broken up with her long term boyfriend.  Although she loves him, she is reluctant to commit -- especially to having children.

As Rachel spends time with Beth and gets to know her life on the bus routes and her boyfriend, Jessie, she also has flashbacks to their childhood.  Their father left their mother for another woman (now their stepmother) and, when their mom finds herself a new and unsuitable boyfriend, Beth is left with her but her siblings go to live with their father.

Beth and Rachel's relationship during Rachel's stay is not a piece of cake.  Beth can be rude and they both end up saying things they regret but along the way they find not only each other but new lives independent of one another once the three months is up and they reconnect as loving sisters along the way.  pazt