Clara's Heart (1988)

Clara's Heart is a 1988 American film starring Kathleen Quinlan and Whoopi Goldberg, based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by Joseph Olshan. The movie tells the story of a family in crisis. The mother, Leona (Quinlan), escapes to Jamaica to grieve the loss of her baby daughter. While there she meets kindly housekeeper Clara Mayfield (played by Goldberg). Clara pulls Leona out of her depression with a blunt, no-nonsense style. Leona is so taken with her that she brings Clara back to their home in Baltimore to be housekeeper and nanny to young son David, played by Neil Patrick Harris. At first he is resistant and sees her as an intruder. But as the parents are completely wrapped up in their own grief and dissolving marriage, David comes to trust Clara and to depend on her. Clara harbors her own dark secret, which when revealed, serves to firm the bond between these two very different, but loving, characters.