Chesapeake Shores

By starrymag | August 17, 2016

By: Jessica Wolff

 

Hallmark’s new series Chesapeake Shores stars Meghan Ory as Abby Winters, a hardworking single mother struggling to balance career and family while living in the heart of New York City. Abby has a lot on her plate, including raising her two daughters, Carrie and Caitlyn (Abbie and Kayden Magnuson), her high-stress Wall Street job as well as her ex-husband and his new girlfriend, who happens to be Abby’s coworker.

 

Abby’s strict routine is interrupted by a phone call from her sister, Jess O’Brien (Laci J Mailey). Jess wants Abby to come home to Chesapeake Shores, a small beach town near Baltimore, Maryland in order to resolve a situation that she has determined is life or death. In a split decision spurred by seeing her ex-husband Wes (Michael Karl Richards) at work, Abby agrees to come home with her daughters to visit the family.

 

Upon arriving at the O’Brien family home, Abby and her daughters are greeted by her grandma, Nell O’Brien (Diane Ladd) and Jess. The family catches up over lunch and Jess shows Abby the reason she called her. Jess is attempting to open a bed and breakfast and has been fixing up an old house that she purchased. The only problems are extreme damage to the kitchen area and that the bank is threatening to foreclose on the home. Wanting to help her sister out, Abby agrees to talk to the bank.

 

The next morning, Abby goes for a run on the beach and then goes with Jess to the bank. She is surprised to find her ex-boyfriend, Trace Riley (Jesse Metcalfe) in one of the offices. She assumes that he is working for the bank and has a tense exchange with him about the house and their past break-up. As Trace leaves, she realizes that he was merely visiting his father at the bank and is mortified by her mistake.

 

News travels fast about Abby’s return to Chesapeake Shores and she runs into her father, Mick O’Brien (Treat Williams), at a café. They briefly catch up before he leaves to deal with business. The café owner then asks Abby about her meeting with Trace and they speculate about why he is back home after a semi-successful music career. Sally tells Abby that everyone had expected her and Trace to end up together before leaving her to her thoughts.

 

Abby calls her assistant to deal with work issues before receiving a call from her daughters’ nanny, who tells her that she’s quitting. Everyone gathers for dinner and Mick says that he wants to have the whole family together for the Fourth of July. Abby insists that they have to leave on Monday due to work and her daughters’ ballet recital. Her daughters tell her that they already had their recital, which Abby missed due to work.

 

On her morning run, Abby is joined by Trace. Abby apologizes for the misunderstanding at the bank and they reconnect. Trace reveals that Abby’s father sold him the beach house they planned to live in as kids and that he’s been fixing it up. When Abby asks Mick about the house, he tells her that Trace convinced him to sell it because he told him that it reminded him of the best time of his life. Abby goes to visit Trace at the house and finds him and his dog, Axel, working on the house. Abby offers to compensate him for the work that he’s done on Jess’ house, but he brushes her off, clearly still bitter about their break-up.

 

As Abby prepares to leave Chesapeake Shores, her daughters ask her about their nanny. Abby tells them their nanny has moved on and that she will find them a new one. Caitlin storms off and Carrie accidentally lets slip that their father wants them to live with him. Mick tries to comfort Abby, telling her that her kids will get over the bad things. This has the opposite effect, as Abby confronts her father about her mother leaving and about how he was barely around for their childhood. Mick argues that he did what he had to do to support his family, and that Abby is doing the same for her daughters. Abby goes for a walk on the beach and breaks down crying, realizing that her life is falling apart.

 

Abby goes to see Trace the next morning. He is surprised to see her, but soon realizes that Abby is upset about something. She opens up to him about her problems and apologizes for the way she left him years before. An ambulance is sitting outside the O’Brien home when Abby returns and Nell is taken to the hospital after collapsing. Not long after, Abby and Jess are relieved to find out that Nell is going to be all right. Abby calls Wes and asks about what her daughters’ told her. Wes tells her that he has been planning to move out of the city and have the kids live with him to reduce costs. She hangs up on him when she sees Trace pull up in his motorcycle. He asks her about Nell and she updates him on her condition. Abby ignores a call from Wes and tells Trace about her fear about whether she is a good parent or whether she is becoming like her father.

 

Trace takes her to the beach that they used to go to when they were kids. He tells her that he went to New York to look for her after she left, but went home after he found out that she was engaged to Wes. He then tells her that he gave up on his music career and came back to Chesapeake Shores when things became rough. He asks her to go swimming with him, but she refuses insisting that adults don’t just go swimming. Assuring her that she will feel better, he coaxes her to come into the water with him. They share a kiss in the water and Trace drives her home. They say good night to each other and Abby pulls out the box he made her when they were kids and looks at their old love letters.

 

The third sister, Bree O’Brien (Emilie Ullerup), arrives home and the three sisters catch up at the kitchen table. Bree tells them about her struggling theater career. Jess and Bree talk about their therapy sessions and encourage Abby that she should see a therapist as well. Bree asks about Trace and Abby tells them that she kissed him the previous night, causing the other two to shriek in excitement. Abby calls her boss about her apprehensions over the deal and he tells her that the deal went through while she was away. Determined to stop the deal, Abby requests a video meeting with the executives to discuss it with them. As she hangs up, Abby talks to her daughter and apologizes for missing their recital and that she will do better in the future. She convinces them to do the recital for the whole family and they perform the routine for the captive audience.

 

Abby finds out that Nell has been teaching her daughters how to make pancakes and do laundry, telling them that Abby doesn’t have time to do those things. Feeling guilty, she asks them to let her help them cook breakfast. Abby goes into her company’s Baltimore office and makes a compelling pitch to the executives. Nell talks to Mick back at the house and encourages him to be more active in his daughters’ lives and that his constant working has strained his relationship with them. The manager of the Baltimore firm is so impressed with Abby’s pitch that he offers Abby a job at the office.

 

Jess comes home and hears a noise in the house. Thinking that there is an intruder, she arms herself with a hammer and investigates. She finds Mick working to fix the pipes in the kitchen. He offers to help her with the bed and breakfast and Jess reluctantly agrees. Abby receives a call from her assistant that Wes is pursuing custody of the kids and tells her that she does not know what she is going to do about it yet. After hanging up, she calls for a therapist’s number to schedule an appointment.

 

Abby appears to be in therapy discussing her problems, but it is soon revealed that she is talking to Trace’s dog, Axel, on the beach. She goes swimming in the water and Trace comes over to her. Abby gets out of the water and Trace hands her his jacket. Abby tells him that she is seriously considering staying in Chesapeake Shores and they discuss their kiss. They nearly kiss again, but Abby leaves. She joins her family as Abby’s mother and two brothers arrive into town. They watch the fireworks together as one big family.