With Jacob secured in a home nearby, Belinda can figure out a way for them to flee she believes that their father had given them up for adoption with the full intention of reuniting with them in the near future. She kept this secret to prevent potential parents from breaking up siblings because they see her as 'too old' to adopt. Unbeknownst to all, Belinda is Jacob's sister. Realizing that the lone orphan Belinda will be sent back to the foundling home in New York, Missie volunteers to adopt the poor Romantic soul. Although she is firmly determined not to grant Mattie's request for a new sibling, she goes in-just in time to witness 14-year-old Belinda behaving belligerently toward the Pettises as they choose eight-year-old Jacob-looking on him as a farm worker rather than a son.

On her way to work, Missie passes the church just as the orphan distribution is underway. Pettis passes her judgment on him, implying he has a shameful past on the wrong side of the law. Claiming that Zach is not a godly man, Mrs. Pettis, who disdains the orphans as 'ragamuffins.' At the same time, Missie catches the eye of a passing horseman: bachelor Sheriff Zach Tyler, another target of Mrs. Outside the church, Clark introduces Missie to sharp-tongued biddy Mrs. At her first Sunday service, Missie and Mattie learn from the Pastor that an 'Orphan Train' with homeless children in need of good homes will soon arrive from the Children's Aid Society of New York. Missie and her ten-year-old son Mattie travel back to her hometown to live near the farm of her parents, Clark and Marty Davis. Even after giving up her job as the town schoolteacher, Missie has found running the ranch on her own overwhelming, so she has resigned herself to letting her son Jeff and his new bride take control of it jointly with her brothers Aaron and Arnie. Missie LaHaye bids a reluctant goodbye at the grave of her late husband Willie, who died two years previously in the line of duty as the sheriff of Tettsford Junction.

It is the fifth movie in an ongoing series that includes Love Comes Softly (2003), Love's Enduring Promise (2004), Love's Long Journey (2005), Love's Abiding Joy (2006), Love's Unfolding Dream (2007), and Love Takes Wing (2009), and Love Finds a Home (2009), as well as the 2011 prequels, Love Begins, Love's Everlasting Courage, and Love's Christmas Journey which fits part way through the movie series. It was directed by Mark Griffiths and stars Erin Cottrell. It originally aired on Hallmark Channel on April 7, 2007. Love's Unending Legacy is a 2007 made-for-television Christian drama film based on a series of books by Janette Oke.

Love's unending legacy janette oke