OVER AND ABOVE

What's a liberal, Manhattan, ""assimilated"" Jewish mother to do when her own daughter (22-year-old college dropout Julie) not only nurses a long-standing grudge, but is also going ga-ga over Danny, a not-so-nice Jewish boy who seems to be working for the PLO? The fact is, Amy doesn't do, she talks--to her mother Eugenie, a successful painter; to an increasingly serious love-interest, Seth--and wonders where she went wrong. Was it the divorce from Vince, who couldn't stomach her career as an illustrator? Was it that traumatic car accident--Amy was driving--which Julie claims was set up to kill Grandpa? Julie, meanwhile, is a royal pain, picking fights with Amy and not showing for New Years' festivities, popping in at odd times and disappearing with a ""So longus!"" Grandmother Eugenic offers some wise and calm remarks, but she's mainly absorbed in her work battling (successfully) her declining vision. While Amy suffers, Julie seems no nearer enlightenment, even when old boyfriend Eph, a Zionist, punches Danny during a street march and all three are hauled to the police station. But realization that Danny's group has financed murder finally seeps through, and it's So Longus to Danny as a wiser Julie plans to return to college--with some gentle but firm ground rules from Grandmother and much-needed restraint from Amy (who is about to marry Seth). With the messages ringing through loud, clear, and tinny--Remember Your Roots, Forgive and Forget, etc.--this is a characteristic Hobson morality soap, even talkier than most.