Dear Viola is the popular advice column in the Bellport Herald newspaper. Earl Bellamy (Neil Crone), the newspaper's editor, is not planning on hiring a new Viola when Helen (Lorna Wilson), the real Viola, lets him know that she is retiring, that is until he receives an anonymous new response to a Dear Viola letter on his desk, that response which has the same spunk in attitude that Helen as Viola had, but even more so. Earl learns the response was written by his bookkeeper, Katie Minor (Kellie Martin), a relatively meek and mild Plain Jane of a woman who has focused her life since college on helping others, at the expense of a life of her own both personally and professionally, which includes no romance. She currently acts as the caregiver to Rennie Jasper (Jackie Richardson), Katie's now deceased mother's longtime housekeeper.
Katie accepts Earl's offer to be the new Viola on certain conditions, including that no one else know she is Viola, to which Earl agrees. With Katie at the helm of the column, Dear Viola gets an even more devoted fan base, not only because of her spunky responses, but also because of what ends up being a multi-letter in-print correspondence with a writer signing himself Lost Love. Lost Love is a widower with a daughter, who has felt lost in life since the death of his wife - his soul mate - that loss which is exacerbated by seeing in his daughter his wife every time he looks at her.
Katie is eventually able to figure out that Lost Love is a casual acquaintance named Russ Mitchell (Jefferson Brown), co-owner of a fishing boat charter, and father to eight-year-old Meredith (Kira Gelineau). Seeing Russ through the new eyes of Viola, Katie starts to fall for him, which includes the whole package of Meredith. If Katie has any chance with Russ, she has to make some changes in herself. But she also has to decide how far she will go in her role as Viola in advising Russ, especially as from some of that earlier advice he starts a relationship with Jamie Estevez (Brittany Gray), an opportunistic new woman in town who is obviously not the right woman for him if he can only see past her obvious physical traits.
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Dear Viola
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Rock of Ages
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Augustus Montague Toplady:
(uncredited) lyrics
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