Very emotional and poignant view of single parents and the struggles they face. Joey (portrayed by Ricky Schroeder from "silver spoons" and "the champ") is a construction worker doing his best to support his wife Alice (who also works outside the home) and his 6 year old daughter Emily. Alice's wealthy parents did not approve of their marriage at first but love their granddaughter Emily dearly and come to realize Joey is a good guy and that they are a very happy family. Alice's father tries to help financially but Alice and Joey are always too proud to accept. Joey is also in the middle of building a new home for their family so they all live together in a brand new place. All is well until Joey loses his job and to make matters worse, Alice unexpectedly and tragically dies from a brain aneurysm while at her desk at work. At this point Joey is struggling to take care of Emily and find new employment while grieving his wife's death. Joey's mother in law is also pressuring Joey to let Emily live with her and her husband, possibly to help her mask her grief for her daughter's death but also because she truly feels it's the best thing for all involved since Joey is struggling so much. Joey in the meantime has gotten involved in a co-op program for other single and struggling parents and makes friends with Harriet (portrayed by actress Khandi Alexander, real life choreographer for Whitney Houston) and her daughter Charlotte, whom has also become friends with Emily. After her bowling birthday party, Joey takes Emily out to breakfast and has a heart to heart with her and decides it's best for her to be with her grandparents and takes her to live with them. He tries to be in Emily's life as much as possible even taking her to a carnival, checking with her teacher how she is doing in school and checking up on her as much as a loving father can (while still being active also in the parents' co op and while applying for jobs) but Emily is not adjusting at all to living at her grandparents she gets mad because she can't play her and her mom's favorite song on the piano and even runs away by sneaking away on a city bus instead of going home with her grandmother (Luckily she only ends up at Harriet's house and when he goes to get her she tells Joey to "listen to your kid"). Eventually Joey fights for his daughter and even aims to rebuild the house originally meant for him and his whole family to live in at the request of his friends. In the end all ends up happily and Emily will just stay close to her grandparents, not live with them. Joey and his beloved daughter Emily end up back together where they belong and in the closing scene fly up away in the sky far away on a hot air balloon living happily ever after.
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