WHAT THE HEART KNOWS

Former Days of Our Lives actress Purl imbues her soap opera finesse into the fictional setting of Milford-Haven, a sleepy California coastal town where a cast of characters balance matters of the head and heart.

It’s the mid-1990s, and nature artist Miranda Jones has left the urban hustle of San Francisco for the quaint allure of Milford-Haven, a town that seduces passersby with its homey aromas wafting from Sally’s Restaurant, and where lighthouses and seashells afford its denizens a quiet serenity. Miranda’s inspiration is her paintbrush, and the town’s seascape is her muse. Sally O’Mally is an Arkansas transplant with a nose in everyone’s business, especially Samantha Hugo’s, the ex-wife of her boyfriend, Jack Sawyer. News reporter Christine Christian goes missing after a secret source leads her to a mansion under construction, and her oil mogul boyfriend, Joseph Calvin, the senior partner of Calvin Oil, is worried. In nearby Santa Barbara, Miranda’s opportunistic manager, Zelda McIntyre, also sets her sights on the eldest Calvin, while Joseph’s son, Zackery, is smitten with the mysterious Miranda. The plethora of lives that interweave in Milford-Haven is dizzying at first, but in true serial form, they slowly collide, enticing the onlooker. Simmering just below the gossip that pervades the resident’s lives are heavy-hitting issues, including Samantha’s deeply held familial secret, as well as her professional commitment to protect the environment from new construction stemming from Jack’s building company. This may be Apple Pie, USA, but hearts are on the line, professions are at stake and a possible murder has tainted the landscape. Ending each plot line in a cliffhanger, Purl closes the saga with a peek at the next installment in the Milford-Haven series. A whirlwind of juicy drama with dangling-carrot closure.