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Family drama heats up on Chesapeake Shores

Megan Ory stars in Chesapeake Shores on the Hallmark Channel.
Megan Ory stars in Chesapeake Shores on the Hallmark Channel.

Every year we get lists of "summer beach reads" -- those books to take on vacation that are entertaining, but don't really require much heavy lifting. Books that help us simply unwind.

Novels by Danielle Steel, Stephenie Meyer, Louise Penny and Nora Roberts come to mind.

TV has its own version of that -- summer shows sandwiched in between the thrilling cliffhangers of May and the anticipation of the new season in September.

As a perfect example of light summer fare, look no further than Hallmark Channel's newest original prime-time series, Chesapeake Shores, debuting at 8 p.m. today.

As is typical with this sort of fluffy drama, the cast consists of attractive younger actors hoping to land bigger projects on bigger outlets, and veteran actors who've been around a while and probably are just happy to have a job.

In this case, the young folks are 33-year-old Meghan Ory (Red Riding Hood in Once Upon a Time) and 37-year-old Jesse Metcalfe (Christopher Ewing in the Dallas reboot). And the older stars are 64-year-old Treat Williams (Everwood, The Late Shift) and Academy Award-nominee Diane Ladd (Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Wild at Heart, Rambling Rose), who's 80 now.

Chesapeake Shores is based on the novels of the same name by Sherryl Woods and executive produced by Emmy Award- winner John Tinker (Judging Amy, Chicago Hope).

At its core, Chesapeake Shores is a multigenerational family drama centered on Abby O'Brien Winters (Ory), a hard-working career woman, divorcee and mother of 8-year-old twin daughters.

She returns to her Maryland hometown of Chesapeake Shores, not far from Baltimore, for the weekend and runs smack dab into her painful past.

That past includes her high school sweetheart Trace Riley (Metcalfe), her stubborn, self-made father Mick O'Brien (Williams) and her beloved grandmother Nell O'Brien (Ladd), who raised her.

Further drama ensues when Abby realizes her divorce and high-pressure career as a New York stockbroker have left her with precious little time to be a good mother to her girls. She then considers making the visit back home permanent.

Here are some details. Consider this a spoiler alert if you prefer to go into a new series completely uninformed.

The 34-year-old Abby returns to Chesapeake Shores after receiving a melodramatic call for help from her scatterbrained little sister, who renovated the dilapidated Inn at Eagle Point into a B&B, maxed out her credit cards and now faces foreclosure. As usual, she needs Abby's help.

Chesapeake Shores holds mixed memories for Abby because when she was only 17, her mom bailed out, abandoning Abby, her father and her four siblings.

And Trace? Well, he was her first love whom she left behind after high school to move to the Big City. In the years since, Trace has become a country singer and is fixing up an old beach cottage in town as a place of refuge from his life on tour.

There is unfinished business between Trace and Abby. It gets awkward.

Abby's relationship with her dad is strained because he was pretty much absent while his kids were growing up and it adversely affected the family. It's the sudden realization that she is falling into the same workaholic habits as her father that causes Abby to question her priorities.

Yes. Abby is concerned about the future. She's worried. She's confused. But to whom can she turn? Who would have a shoulder to lean on and let her unburden herself? To whom can she talk?

Yeah. Saw that one coming.

There's a moonlight swim, laughter and a long, lingering gaze into each other's eyes and ...

Whoa, pony. Not so fast. Abby puts on the brakes. I mean, she just got out of one relationship. Why jump into another? Things are all so complicated and confusing just now.

Will things work out? Will Abby and Trace get together? Will the fractured O'Brien family reconnect? What will happen if Abby's mother returns?

What? Wait. The mom who abandoned everybody may be coming back? It looks as if heavy mama drama is on the horizon -- perfect summertime fare for a hot Sunday evening, beach or not.

Trivia: If you like the scenery, note that standing in for Chesapeake Bay is Vancouver Island's idyllic Qualicum Beach and its neighboring town of Parksville, British Columbia. That explains the towering (and anachronistic) evergreen-covered mountains tumbling to the bay. The first season was filmed there from May through July.

Style on 08/14/2016

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