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When Cassie Nightingale (Catherine Bell) a charming yet
mysterious young woman, decides to live in a small town
resident ‘haunted house,’ her new friends and neighbors
quickly begin to wonder whether she’s a bona fide witch,
while the local police chief (Chris Potter) falls under her
spell. This wonderful made for television movie is brought
to you by the Hallmark Channel.
If you have
not yet watched this movie - Stop Here! Spoilers Follow
 Not much ever seems to happen in
the quaint, quiet community of Middleton – until the late
October day when Police Chief Jake Russell, a widowed father
of two, is called on to investigate activity at the famous
Grey House. The Grey House is a long-abandoned structure
believed by many in town to be haunted. When Jake arrives to
check things out, the mystery is immediately solved: Someone
has moved in. But this new resident, Cassandra Nightingale,
is herself a woman of mystery, a woman who will soon shake
things up in this town.
Cassie is an enchanting beauty with a gentle spirit, an
outrageous sense of fashion and a “wicked” sense of humor.
She also seems to be something of an enchantress. She has a
magic touch with men (although Jake is slow to respond, as
he hasn’t quite gotten over his wife’s death several years
ago); she has a magic touch with children (Jake’s kids,
Brandon and Lori, are drawn to her, maybe because she smells
“like gingerbread”); she even has a magic touch with savage
beasts (Cassie rescues the children from an attacking dog,
then “tames” it with a few choice words). It seems that
Cassie has the ability to charm everyone she meets, with the
exception of Martha Tinsdale the mayor’s busybody wife who
also is the tsk-tsking head of the local Citizen’s League.
In fact, when Cassie opens a shop called Bell, Book and
Candle –- a “new-age” shop that carries Celtic, metaphysical
and Wiccan items – Mrs. Tinsdale immediately launches a
protest.
 Jake’s kids, naturally, get the idea that Cassie is a witch,
albeit a good one. Young Lori, tormented by dreams of
monsters, turns to Cassie for help; Cassie “prescribes” a
dreamcatcher and then advises the girl to keep chanting, “I
will not dream of bunnies.” Sure enough, the next morning,
Lori reports that she dreamed of bunnies instead of
monsters. Cassie’s approach may be a bit unconventional, but
it worked! Similarly, Brandon consults Cassie with a problem
he’s having with a bully. Cassie gives him an enchanted
crystal, but again there are additional steps: Brandon must
spend some time with Derek, the bully, and he must introduce
Derek to Brandon’s police chief father. In the process of
befriending the bully, Brandon discovers that Derek is the
son of an abusive father. Later, when Brandon introduces the
boy to Jake, it sets into motion events that will result in
Derek’s being removed from the danger at home. Cassie’s
diagnosis, although offbeat, was another bull’s-eye.
But Cassie’s influence extends beyond the Russell family.
There’s Nancy Perkins, a Citizen’s League member whose
marriage lacks romance. When Nancy visits the Bell, Book and
Candle, Cassie suggests an aphrodisiac that she herself
conjured up. Again, the results are immediate and
life-altering: Nancy and her husband find a romantic spark
that never existed -– and ultimately she winds up pregnant,
something they’d never been able to make happen. Cassie even
tries a little of her magic on herself: She starts chanting,
“I will not dream of Jake Russell, I will not dream of Jake
Russell!” And not surprisingly, Jake gradually arrives at
the realization that he has feelings for Cassie, especially
after an unplanned dinner date at Grey House. Jake is too
pragmatic to believe any of this “witch” nonsense, but he
can’t deny that there’s something enigmatic about her.
 On Halloween, Cassie hosts a party at Grey House. The few
Middleton residents whom Cassie has helped and befriended
attend, while a handful of trick-or-treaters come and go.
Mean-spirited Mrs. Tinsdale wouldn’t be caught dead there,
of course. In fact, she’s the driving force behind an
upcoming city council meeting in which Cassie’s future in
Middleton will be debated. It’s such a heated issue, in
fact, that Cassie is thinking of leaving town (instead of
fighting to stay where she’s unwanted). Meanwhile, Mrs.
Tinsdale’s two sons are up to Halloween mischief. But Jake’s
deputy, Joe, catches the boys red-handed while they’re
vandalizing the Bell, Book and Candle shop.
At the police station, Mrs. Tinsdale tries to get her
husband, the mayor, to force Jake to release the boys
without pressing charges. But Jake refuses to yield to
political pressure – and while standing up to the woman, he
finally professes his love for Cassie. In that moment,
Cassie knows she has found a home in Middleton, a home with
Jake Russell and his family. Cassie declines to press
charges against the boys and, refreshingly, Mayor Tinsdale
finally tells his shrewish wife to quit with her bullying
behavior. And as everyone pitches in to help Cassie repair
the damage to her shop, it’s clear that Cassie and Jake are
going to experience “happily ever after,” whether she’s a
witch or not.
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