TWO LIFELONG FRIENDS MUST FACE THE PAST AND MAKE DIFFICULT DECISIONS ABOUT THE FUTURE WHEN ONE LEARNS SHE HAS PRECIOUS LITTLE TIME LEFT

MEREDITH BAXTER AND LESLEY ANN WARREN STAR IN 'BOUND BY A SECRET,' A HALLMARK CHANNEL ORIGINAL MOVIE PREMIERING MARCH 7

Bridget Ann White, Timothy Bottoms and Newcomer Ellery Sprayberry Co-Star

Two old friends who share a life-long secret are forced to face the truth � and its consequences � when one is diagnosed with a terminal illness and wants to put all her affairs in order in "Bound By A Secret," a Hallmark Channel Original Movie premiering Saturday, March 7 (9/8c). Meredith Baxter ("Cold Case," "Family Ties") stars alongside Lesley Ann Warren ("In Plain Sight," "Desperate Housewives") as a pair of strong-willed women who come to terms with the choices they made and how those choices affect the ones they love.

Jane Tetley (Warren), a glamorous soap opera star, is coping with the fact that her recently-diagnosed cancer is indeed terminal. She knows she is going to die and wants to be with Ida Mae (Baxter), her best friend, for her final days. Jane puts her affairs in order and returns to Walton Falls, the quaint town she grew up in and where Ida Mae still lives. Ida Mae is thrilled to see her, but the news of her illness is hard to bear. Jane tries to use her last days to convince her dear friend not to live with fear or regret, and tries to get her to open her heart to Will (Timothy Bottoms), a handsome man who opens a ceramics shop near Ida Mae's teashop. But their friendship takes a hit when Jane reveals that she wants to tell Kate (Bridget Ann White), Ida Mae's daughter, the truth about her birth: she's really Jane's daughter, given up to Ida Mae years ago.

To add to Ida Mae's worries, Kate's husband has been offered a job in Seattle and he wants to take it, even if it means leaving their friends and family in Walton Falls. Kate is not so sure about the move, and learning that Ida Mae will lose her best friend seems to help her make her decision. She can't leave her mother all alone � not now. But if Jane reveals their secret, Ida Mae is not sure what Kate will do, and she is terrified to find out. In the end, it's the relationship Jane builds with Kate's daughter, Lila (Ellery Sprayberry), which guides her to make the hard decisions she faces.

"Bound By A Secret" is an LG Films Production in association with Faith & Family Entertainment and Larry Levinson Productions. Larry Levinson is the executive producer. Randy Pope, Dan Gross, Michael Moran and Tracey Washington are co-executive producers. Lincoln Lageson and Mary Church are the producers. David S. Cass Sr. directed from a script by Darrell V. Orme Mann. The movie was based on the book entitled Ida Mae Tutweiler and the Traveling Tea Party by Ginnie Siena Bivona.

Hallmark Channel, owned and operated by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., is a 24-hour basic cable network that provides a diverse slate of high-quality entertainment programming to a national audience of 86 million subscribers. The top tier program service is distributed through more than 5,450 cable systems and communities as well as direct-to-home satellite services across the country. Hallmark Channel consistently ranks among the top 10 ad-supported cable networks in Prime Time and Total Day household ratings and is the nation's leading network in providing quality family programming. Crown Media also operates a second 24-hour linear channel which plays the greatest family movies of all time, Hallmark Movie Channel, and launched Hallmark Movie Channel HD in April, 2008.