When Calls the Heart party ~ Day One ~ Intro + Lost & Found Recap

Good morning, folks! :D Welcome to the second hopefully-annual When Calls the Heart blog party, hosted by yours truly and my lovely friend, RebekahAshleigh.

Last year, on the week on Valentines Day, Rebekah and I came up with the idea to host a week-long party in honor of the well-known Hallmark series. It was a ton of fun, and we've decided to do it again! :D Today through Saturday there will be a special post on each of our blogs—I'm especially looking forward to Thursday's post. ;)

Alrighty! Today I'm going to do a recap of the very first When Calls the Heart episode, Lost and Found. (In the individual TV episodes, this would be "Lost and Found" and "Cease and Desist.") Unless I'm mistaken, that's the episode that our party graphic image came from too! ;)

So much happens in this episode! First, schoolteacher Elizabeth Thatcher comes to Coal Valley, a town that has recently been through the terrible tragedy of a mine cave-in, which killed most of the husbands and fathers. 

The mothers aren't sure this young lady from a wealthy family in Hamilton is up to the challenge of teaching their grieving children. They give her a chance though, and Elizabeth does her best ... with minor errors like burnt food and burning buildings dotting her path. 

Soon we meet Constable Jack Thornton, a Mountie who's recently been assigned to Coal Valley to investigate the mine cave-in. Pretty sure I was shipping those two from the very beginning... *wink*

Upon realizing who Elizabeth's father is, Jack is suspicious that he was stationed there to keep an eye on her. Which may or may not be true. ;) Needless to say, the two butt heads when Jack brings it up.

Elizabeth sets to work teaching the children, without much progress. A plank of wood is unearthed by the men working to clear the mine tunnels. 'Forgive me Pa' is etched into it, presumably by one of the trapped, dying miners.

The townspeople fight over the piece of wood, a reminder of what they've all lost, each convinced it was their husband, father, or son. The city-girl schoolteacher and I-didn't-even-want-to-be-here Mountie have to work together to solve the mystery and get the plank to its rightful owner. ;) 

Slightly unrelated here, but I really liked the characters of Cat, Gabe, Emily, and Miles on Season 1. Kinda wish they still had more leading roles in the show. ;P 

Moving on... In the second half of the show, the women widowed by the mine cave-in receive eviction notices from Henry Gowen, overseer of the Coal Valley mine. They're instructed the vacate the row houses they now occupy to make room for new miners and their families. In order to stay in their homes, the women themselves go to work in the mines. 

Outraged at the man's audacity, Elizabeth seeks to find a way to help. Jack encourages her to look for a 'legal loophole'. She does, with the aid of her students. When the first attempt fails, Elizabeth is discouraged, but eventually finds another way, once which allows the women to keep their homes.

All turns out well in the end, with Jack and Elizabeth on much better terms than when the show began. Coal Valley is far from perfect, but the grieving, healing families now have a schoolteacher and a Mountie who truly care about the people in their new town. <3


~*~


Hope y'all enjoyed! What's your favorite WCTH episode from Season 1? Are you excited for the party?

Be sure to hop over to Rebekah's blog to read her post for today! :D

~Faith