‘BEVERLY LEWIS’ THE CONFESSION’

SYNOPSIS

In upstate New York, Katie Lapp, a beautiful Amish girl who is naïvely taking on the outside world for the first time, lives with her “Englisher” friend Alexis. Katie has learned she was adopted and left her small Amish community, Hickory Hollow, to find her birth mother, Laura Mayfield-Bennett, but hasn’t had any luck tracking her down. Meanwhile, Laura is at her doctor’s office with her husband, Dylan, learning that her cancer has spread and she has only weeks to live. Laura, a wealthy but generous heiress, returns to her sprawling estate and hurriedly packs a bag for Dylan—she still wants him to go on his planned trip to Manhattan to see a therapist for his gambling addiction, which she recently found out about.

Dylan reluctantly leaves his sick wife, but instead meets with a bookie, who demands Dylan pay back his gambling debt. Back at the estate, Laura fights through her fatigue to help her house staff, including head maid Rosie and butler Fulton, plan her annual dinner benefiting her Mayfield Foundation, an organization helping children in need. Laura also calls a meeting with her attorneys and Justin, a handsome young man in charge of running her foundation. She has decided to give all of her estate’s money to the foundation, and only a small stipend to Dylan, worried he will gamble it away. After the meeting, a sneaky member of Laura’s legal team calls Dylan and fills him in on the changes to the will. Dylan promises to come up with a plan to get Laura’s money, eyeing his cocktail waitress—a struggling actress named Alyson.

The next day, Dylan returns home to a ringing phone. He is immediately taken aback when he realizes it is Katie Lapp, Laura’s long-lost daughter, on the line. Thinking fast, he tells Katie that it is too late for her to meet Laura, implying her death. Katie hangs up, devastated, but Alexis investigates. She finds out Laura is a wealthy socialite who is still living in a beautiful mansion and tells Katie the man on the phone lied, and urges Katie to go visit Laura herself.

Soon, an Amish girl is knocking on Laura’s door. But this isn’t Katie—it is Alyson, hired by Dylan to pose as Katie Lapp in a scheme to inherit all of Laura’s money. Laura is stunned, believing Alyson is her real daughter, and hugs her, weeping. Dylan arrives right behind Alyson, proclaiming he went in Amish country to find Katie and bring her home. Laura is touched by her husband’s gesture and excited to meet her daughter, welcoming her right into her home.

On the day of the Mayfield Foundation dinner, the estate staff is frantically preparing the house for the guests, determined to make this night a success, especially with Katie finally home. When the real Katie Lapp arrives at the front door, Rosie mistakes her for a new maid, and immediately puts her to work. Confused, Katie begins to help, and Rosie assures her she’ll meet Laura soon. Katie is too excited to question it.

That night, with the party in full swing, Laura thanks all her guests for coming and surprises everyone when she introduces her daughter. While Katie watches, imposter Alyson appears in

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Amish garb and waves to the crowd, leaving Katie speechless. After the party, as Rosie shows Katie to her room and explains her household duties, Katie learns Laura is very sick. Still shook up, Katie worries if she comes forward with her true identity, it will be too hard on Laura, who is already so ill. She decides not to tell anyone.

Alone in their room that night, Dylan feigns generosity as he asks Laura to make Katie the heir to her estate. Laura agrees it is a good idea, never guessing her husband’s true motives, and sets up a lunch with Justin and Alyson to go over the details. When Katie eavesdrops in a maid’s uniform, Dylan is suspicious of her, noticing her accent and her special connection with Laura. After lunch, Justin follows Katie out of the room and asks her out for coffee, smitten with her. Seeing an opportunity to explain what’s really going on, Katie accepts his offer.

In Hickory Hollow, Katie’s adoptive parents, Rebecca and Samuel, are stunned when Daniel Fisher, Katie’s ex-boyfriend, shows up. The community believed he drowned in a river, but Daniel explains he faked his death to be able to leave the Amish community and serve in the Army. He hoped his death would be easier than the truth, but he came to apologize to Katie. Rebecca gives him Katie’s letter and points to the return address to help him find his way.

With Alexis’s help, Daniel finds Laura’s address and shows up to the Bennett estate while Katie is on her date in town with Justin. Alyson is nervous to learn she has a visitor from Hickory Hollow. She heads to the sitting room where Laura is already visiting with Daniel, who has introduced himself as a distant cousin who Katie probably doesn’t remember. Alyson attempts to portray her part of Katie but is very uncomfortable, afraid of being exposed as a fake.

On their date, Katie is ready to confess to Justin her identity when he suddenly gets an important phone call. Katie is left alone at their table until Dylan suddenly sits down, cornering her. Cold and calculating, he has figured out she is the real Katie Lapp, and he tries to explain everything away. He tells Katie he told her it was too late on the phone because he had already hired Alyson to be Katie Lapp to make his wife’s final days happier, and didn’t want to confuse Laura. Katie believes him, and agrees it is best if she leaves quietly.

But when Katie tries to resign, Laura reveals a soft spot for her and encourages her to stay. That night, Alyson packs her suitcase and leaves against Dylan’s protests. Scared from Daniel’s visit, she can’t act this role any longer. Dylan covers, telling a tearful Laura that Katie had to go home to Hickory Hollow and explain her decision to inherit Laura’s estate to her parents before returning to sign the official paperwork.

On the day of the signing, also Katie’s birthday, Alyson reluctantly returns to the estate to act out her last scene with Laura, much to Dylan’s relief. He proudly watches as Laura begins signing the papers with the whole staff and attorneys present, but Laura suddenly stops Alyson before she can sign, crosses to Katie, and announces she knows this girl is her real daughter, surprising everyone and exposing Dylan’s greedy scheme.

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HALLMARK CHANNEL / ‘BEVERLY LEWIS’ THE CONFESSION’ – Synopsis – Page 3

Disappointed in her husband, Laura sends Alyson back to Manhattan and asks her attorney to take Dylan to a treatment center in Florida. In an emotional goodbye, she stays strong, knowing she will never see her husband again. When everyone has left, Laura tells Katie to get ready—she is throwing her an elegant birthday dinner.

Over dinner, Laura shows Katie the letter she found in her mailbox, left by her distant cousin, who Katie doesn’t know was actually Daniel. It is the same letter Katie wrote to her parents; the one Rebecca gave to Daniel when he left to go find her. As soon as Laura found it, she realized Alyson was a fake, and Katie was her real daughter. Laura and Katie are overjoyed to finally be together as they cherish their last days before Laura’s death.

A few weeks later, Katie is still living at the estate, surrounded by her supportive friends on the staff and Justin. Her chauffer drives her and Justin in town for lunch. As they are climbing back in the limo, Daniel is coming out of a jewelry store where he has bought Katie a beautiful necklace and spots her. He stops dead in his tracks when he sees her with another man, and Katie sees him as well, but it is too late as she drives away into her new life, thinking she just saw a ghost. Watching her go, Daniel promises himself he will marry her one day.

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