JANETTE OKE'S DIVINE FICTION LOVE COMES SOFTLY INSPIRES A NEW SERIES OF PREQUELS BASED ON OKE'S ICONIC HERO CLARK DAVIS, BRINGING NEW FILMS TO HALLMARK CHANNEL'S MOST SUCCESSFUL-EVER MOVIE FRANCHISE "LOVE BEGINS," A HALLMARK CHANNEL ORIGINAL MOVIE, SEPTEMBER 17

Award-winning author Janette Oke's most beloved book series Love Comes Softly and Oke's iconic hero Clark Davis have inspired two prequels and bring two new films into Hallmark Channel's most successful movie series of all time. Nancy McKeon ("The Facts of Life"), Wes Brown ("True Blood") and Julie Mond ("General Hospital") star in "Love Begins," a Hallmark Channel Original Movie, Saturday, September 17 (9p.m. ET/PT, 8C). Brown and Mond also star in the second prequel, "Love's Everlasting Courage," Saturday, October 1 (9p.m. ET/PT, 8C) on Hallmark Channel.

Clark Davis' (Brown) adventurous dreams of seeing the world are put into jeopardy after he and a friend start a fight which damages a local cafe. Through a plea deal with the Sheriff (Jere Burns "Dear John") and café owner Millie (McKeon), Clark works off his sentence as a farmhand for the Barlow sisters, Ellen (Mond) and Cassie (Abigail Mavity, "Summerland"). Older sister Ellen doesn't understand Cassie's open and friendly nature with Clark; she is much more reserved and cautious and only agreed to the Sheriff's offer because the farm has become too much for two young women to maintain alone. Clark is slowing winning Ellen over, but suddenly suffers a traumatic head injury in a fall. As he is nursed back to health by Ellen, Clark recognizes his feelings for her as something much more than gratitude. Clark decides to surprise Ellen in town and express his feelings, but he is devastated to learn her former fiancé has just returned and hopes to win her back. Will Clark travel on? Or will he stay and make his life where love begins?

"Love Begins" is an MNG Films Ireland Production in association with Larry Levinson Productions. Executive Producer is Larry Levinson. Randy Pope, Amanda Phillips and Mary Callery are co-executive producers. Lincoln Lageson and Erik Heiberg are producers. Dave S. Cass, Sr. directed from a script written by Michael Moran.

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 available in high definition (HD) and standard definition (SD) to a national audience of 87.5 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 is the nation's leading network in quality family programming with an ambitious slate of original TV movies, lifestyle and general entertainment content, and is the home of "The Martha Stewart Show", which anchors the channel's new daytime HOME block. Hallmark Channel's sibling network is Hallmark Movie Channel, also available in HD and SD, which focuses on the family-friendly movies with a mix of classic theatrical films, presentations from the acclaimed Hallmark Hall of Fame library, original Hallmark Channel movies and special events.