Sweet Return

Joanna Walsh is a busy woman: besides owning a hair salon and janitorial supply business in her small town of Hatlow, Tex., she's also trying to establish a small organic egg business and help out her best friend, Clova, whose son Lane lays in a Lubbock hospital after an accident. Without Lane, Clova has no one to help run her struggling ranch, so Joanna decides to call on Clova's other son, Dalton, who left home years earlier to become a Los Angeles photojournalist. But when Dalton returns to Texas, he's angered to find Joanna's “nasty goddamned” chickens living on a few acres of the family cattle ranch. When Dalton accuses Joanna of exploiting his mom, Joanna counters by pointing out that in his 15-year absence, the land's had to be mortgaged and the ranch buildings are falling into disrepair. As the steely recriminations fly, they spark a fire between the rugged, self-confident Dalton and the wise, uncompromising Joanna. Jeffrey has a strong plot rich in hardscrabble west Texas detail and a keen ear for dialogue that makes her obvious affection for all her characters most contagious. (Dec.)