The Love Letter

The Love Letter is an American romantic fantasy drama television film directed and produced by Dan Curtis, based on a short story of the same name by Jack Finney. The film stars Campbell Scott and Jennifer Jason Leigh, with David Dukes, Estelle Parsons, Daphne Ashbrook, Myra Carter, Gerrit Graham, Irma P. Hall, and Richard Woods in supporting roles. It premiered on CBS on February 1, 1998, as part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame anthology series. Plot Elizabeth Whitcomb lives near Boston in 1863 and writes a letter addressed to "Dearest" (no specific addressee), expressing her desire and hope to someday find someone to love with her whole heart and mind. She places the letter in the secret compartment of her desk. In 1998, Scott Corrigan buys an antique desk. The store owner tells him the desk had belonged to a Union general. Re-conditioning it, he finds the secret compartment and Elizabeth's letter. He shows it to his mother who has a feeling Scott may actually be able to communicate with Elizabeth across time. She encourages him to reply, giving him a postage stamp from Elizabeth's period, and says he should mail it from the only post office now existing that was there in 1863. He does so, telling Elizabeth if she's patient, someday she will find her true love. Back in 1863, the local letter carrier delivers Scott's letter to Elizabeth who is quite alarmed when reading it. She immediately goes to her desk and is shocked to find her letter missing from its secret compartment. She writes back to Scott demanding to know who he is and how he retrieved her letter.