Clover

Clover (Zelda Harris) is a precocious ten-year-old black girl living with her widowed father, Gaten (Ernie Hudson), on the family peach orchard in the Deep South. Her aunt, uncle and grandmother all live nearby, so she has never wanted for love. Her life is upended, however, when her father marries an attractive white woman, Sara Kate (Elizabeth McGovern), and then tragically is killed in an auto accident the night of the wedding. Clover's relatives close ranks, offering to raise the little girl, but Sara Kate quietly declares that, as Gaten's widow, she feels a responsibility toward Clover. He would have wanted her to care for his daughter. The little girl's relatives are dead set against the arrangement. Clover's Aunt Everleen (Loretta Devine) is a proud woman who views herself the matriarch of the family. The tension in the family and in the community is thick enough to cut with a hay sickle. Thus begins an odyssey of discovery for a bright little girl who seeks someone to love and protect her and a well-meaning widow trying to earn the trust of a suspicious family. This wonderfully entertaining story, equally suited for children and adults, is a testimony to the power of love and its ability to wash away prejudice and harm.