Dolly Parton's Heartstrings

When she learns of a honky tonk bar called Baby Blues, housewife Emily decides to go there, where she is saved from being groped by Jolene, a confident bartender/bar singer who has dreams of going to Nashville to pursue country music. Emily and Jolene befriend each other and spend a lot of time with one another, with Emily hiring Jolene as a guitar teacher for her son. Jolene gives advice for Emily on how she can spice up her marriage with her husband Aaron. Emily is shocked to find out the husband of one of her friends is having an affair with Jolene, damaging their friendship. Emily also suspects that Jolene is having an affair with Aaron when he lies about going to Baby Blues. At the harvest festival, Emily confronts Aaron, who reveals that he has not had an affair but thought of it. He then agrees to see a counselor. With advice from the owner of Baby Blues, Baby, Jolene decides to leave for Nashville to hopefully start her career in country music. Baby then advises Emily to say goodbye, but she misses the bus. She does, however, text Jolene forgiving her and wishing her luck. Some time later, Emily and Aaron have mended their relationship and go to see Jolene, who has become famous, in concert. After the show, Emily and Jolene have a happy reunion.

Ty comes back to his hometown for his sister Lee’s wedding. Unbeknownst to everyone except for Lee, Ty is gay and in a relationship with Cole, the wedding planner. Ty fears telling his conservative parents, Amelia and Roy, about it. Lee is secretly still acting and plans to move to LA with her fiancée Digby once they are married. Roy and Amelia are having marital issues, mostly because they are of differing personalities: Amelia is overbearing, and Roy is relaxed—and because Amelia's battle with cancer the previous year put a strain on their relationship. During a panic attack, Lee accidentally reveals to their parents that Ty is gay. Roy accepts this, but Amelia is horrified and freaks out. Also, it comes out that Lee is going to keep acting and plans to move to LA, though her parents have bought them a house as a wedding present. It also comes out that Cole and Ty are in a relationship, sending Amelia over the deep end. Lee and Digby get married at the courthouse instead of the lavish ceremony Amelia had planned, which causes Amelia to lock herself in her room. Ty presents the wedding crowd with a performance by Dolly Parton. He then goes up to his mother’s room to invite her back to the party, and they make amends. Lee reveals she will not be moving to LA after all, due to her TV career growing locally at home. Ty and Cole agree to move in together, and Roy and Amelia also make amends.

Tom Freeman gets a shock when he finds out his girlfriend Ellie has invited his three estranged children over for his birthday. This causes Tom to flee home and spend time with his friend Kendall. Meanwhile, Tom’s children arrive: sales rep Clay, nurse Nancy, and jewelry designer Phyllis. Kendall takes Tom home while Clay agrees to take Kendall home where Clay reveals his hatred for Tom especially because of the fact Tom killed a man and Kendall encourages him to talk to him about it. Tom runs away again which causes Phyllis and Nancy to go looking for him. Nancy learns that Phyllis is pregnant and they fight. Meanwhile, Clay finds Tom and he confronts him over his past: Tom reveals the man he killed was his father and he killed him because one night he found him brutally assaulting his brother. This causes Tom to flee where he later met Clay and Nancy’s mother, but left because the police were looking for him. Tom also had several flames (one resulting in the birth of Phyllis). Meanwhile, Nancy and Phyllis make amends. Tom and Clay come home where Tom apologizes and makes amends with everyone. Moments later, Tom dies after having a bad fall. The family tearfully says goodbye to him. Months later, a heavily pregnant Phyllis is living with Ellie and they happily anticipate Thanksgiving because Clay and Nancy are coming with their families.

As a child, Lucy Jane finds a dog and names him Cracker Jack who later dies from a rattlesnake bite while out walking and Lucy Jane tearfully says goodbye. 35 years later, Lucy Jane invites her three best friends: Scarlet, Monica, and Bitsy for a girls trip at Scarlet’s house in the woods. The girls’ secrets begin to arise: the girls think Lucy Jane has relapsed into alcoholism, but she instead tells them that she has MS. Scarlet is still grieving the death of her husband a few years ago and faces a new atttaction with Trey, an old high school friend while also becoming an empty nester as her son prepares to go off to college. Monica’s husband reveals his abusive side when he attacks her in front of the girls with Monica kicking him out. Finally, there is Bitsy a lesbian who is jewelry business has just been bought by a major buyer and she has become wealthy. Lucy Jane meets young runaway Nola who has a pet dog that she is not allowed to keep and asks Lucy Jane if she would take care of her which she happily agrees to. Scarlet gives Lucy Jane her house and Lucy Jane allows Monica and her daughters to move in with her.

Delilah “Dee” Coburn and Lincoln Dolarhyde are a teenaged interracial couple who have just graduated from high school. Lincoln reveals that he has enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, and the two agree to marry. However, Dee’s father who is a prominent local preacher openly agrees, but privately tells Dee that he will not allow it. Before Lincoln leaves for Vietnam, he and Dee have sex which results in Dee getting pregnant. Dee tells her father who freaks out and decides to send Dee upstate to have the baby and give it up. Meanwhile, Lincoln continues to write letters to Dee from Vietnam. Dee arrives at a home for unwed mothers, and Dee is reluctant to sign the paperwork giving up rights to her child. Dee befriends one of the fellow girls, Mayer, who has been forced to be there. Meanwhile, Dee’s father starts to burn all of the letters Lincoln sends, but has a change of heart and saves them. Dee and Mayer leave the home and are picked up by a friendly woman, Lily Grover. She is a midwife who takes in girls who want to keep their babies. Mayer goes into labor and has a baby girl. Dee goes into premature labor and the baby is stillborn. Rev. Coburn arrives at Lily’s house where he gives her the letters and makes amends with his daughter. Lincoln comes home (with an amputated leg) and embraces his new family.

A recent widower Logan sees a vision of his wife Harper who encourages him to take a trip to their old home, Sugar Hill to see his father. Logan makes amends with his estranged father. Logan and vision Harper recount their vows. The story of their life is shown in flashbacks. They had been childhood friends, but were separated when Logan’s father was arrested and he was sent off to live with his grandmother. They are reunited in their teenage years when Logan comes back to town. The two date and fall in love. Logan’s father descends into abuse and alcoholism. Logan is scouted by a minor league baseball team and has a big fight with Harper before he leaves for training and accidentally hits her and once again the two don’t see each other for a while. The two meet again when Logan attends a poetry reading being done by a now pregnant Harper who is now planning on raising it alone. Logan confesses his feelings to her and proposes which she accepts and they marry. Present day, Logan calls his two grown children and agrees to take them to Sugar Hill and he spreads his wife’s ashes on the hill.

To avoid an arranged marriage, Maddie Hawkins decides to run off and have her own adventures. At her ranch, she meets horse thief/outlaw JJ Sneed and the two ride up north. Meanwhile, bounty hunter Dick Fletcher begins looking for JJ and Maddie. Maddie opens up to JJ about her parent’s death and JJ offers Maddie a position to be his assistant outlaw. The two also develop an attraction with one another. During one of the robberies, Maddie is forced to shoot the sheriff when the sheriff injures JJ and they end up losing the money. To redeem herself, Maddie organizes a train robbery. She also breaks JJ’s old partner Samaron Rose out of jail to assist them. Instead, JJ and Samaron tie Maddie up and leave her. Fletcher finds her and reveals that JJ is a murderer who has been secretly killing people behind Maddie’s back. Maddie flees Fletcher to go after JJ. She holds JJ at gunpoint allowing Samaron to flee. She then blows up the beaver dam and JJ’s share of the money and shoots him injuring him and leaving him for Fletcher who agrees not to turn her in.

Genevieve Carson is a young DC lawyer who is sent back to her home town to convince a strange mountain woman Mary “Bones” Shaw rumored to be a witch to stop advising people not to sell their land to her clients. Meanwhile, a young boy Jonah is forced to do Bones’ chores by her for sneaking on her land previously. Genevieve offers to buy the land under the pretense that she stop practicing her clairvoyance, but Bones refuses. Genevieve serves Bones with a civil suit which causes Bones to appoint Jonah’s father, Landon Rayfield, her lawyer and he threatens to file a counter suit for defamation of character and intends to prove Bones’ clairvoyance. To ensure they win the case, Genevieve’s client hires Alex, a private investigator, to dig up dirt on Bones. Genevieve is wary about using the evidence since she thinks they can win without it. Knowing she will be fired and blacklisted unless she uses it, she reveals it: personal tragedy that has struck Bones such as a house fire that killed her parents and the fact that she was raped and gave birth to a child and that if she was truly clairvoyant, she would have used her abilities to predict and avoid the tragedy. Landon then is able to get Bones to use her abilities to reveal the reason why Genivieve’s clients want Bones’ land: the company is planning to strike the land of its coal which would leave the land and town desolate. Horrified by everything she has done and now knows, Genivieve leaves her client and the company withdraws meaning Bones gets to keep her land. Genevieve realizes that she is the daughter of Bones and that her visions were events from Bones’ life. She goes to Bones and they have a tender moment and forgive one another for their past activities. It is also hinted that Genevieve and Landon might strike up a relationship.