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The real west on the Hallmark Channel is the story of a widowed mother of two who finds new life after a vacation on a ranch where she meets a sexy cowboy. The film is full of lived-in characters who are funny and warm-hearted, and while the romantic adventures take center stage, there is also a heartbreaking arc surrounding the unspoken grief suffered by the mother and her children after the loss of their husband and father. Often funny with a few poignant touches, it’s definitely a solid entry in the Hallmark canon.

Opening shot: An alarm goes off at 5 a.m. and Rebecca (Kimberley Sustad) doesn’t even hit the snooze button. Instead, she goes for a morning jog, and next thing you know, she’s cooking breakfast for her two sons and telling them they need to get moving to head off to their family vacation at the ranch. Rebecca is an early riser who catches the worm.

The essentials: Rebecca’s defining characteristics are that she is a professor in Boulder (she is a professor of “the Old West”) and a widow of three years. (“I run. And recycle,” she says when asked about her hobbies.) Her older son Noah (Nicholas Holmes) tells her, “You’re great, but it’s been three years since Dad died. “It might be good to find some friends who aren’t your children.” It’s always the eldest’s job to provide the representation, isn’t it?

Noah, a high school student, is applying to college and Rebecca wants them to go on a big family trip to a cattle ranch before he goes to school, but she is caught off guard when he secretly invites his girlfriend Jasmine on the trip . Rebecca is annoyed, but in the good-natured way that Hallmark protagonists are, a kind of zen-woosah that I personally will never experience. Rebecca is excited about this trip because her sister Cassidy (Marlie Collins) and mother Maureen (Lynda Boyd) are also coming, but Cassidy, like Noah, goes off script because it turns out her new boyfriend is there too. [CUT TO: Rebecca’s good-natured annoyance grows.]

When Rebecca decides to buy a cowboy hat to look good on this vacation, she meets a rugged cowboy named Jake West (Lucas Bryant), who immediately intrigues her when he claims he can read people and how he describes him she made the point by simply studying her with his rough, sexy eyes. Rebecca is impressed by his quiet confidence, so they have coffee. Although Jake doesn’t stick around long enough to reveal much about himself, Rebecca is clearly taken with this mysterious stranger. She goes back to the ranch to tell Cassidy and Maureen that she met someone charming, and then Cassidy says, “Wait a minute, my boyfriend just got here.” [CUT TO: The boyfriend is Jake!!] Cassidy says, “Everyone, this is Jake.” Rebecca says, “Ahem. Nice, ‘We’ll meet‘Jake.’

Over the next day or two, Rebecca tries to distance herself from Jake because she’s not the type to steal her own sister’s husband. But for reasons that only exist in movies like this, Cassidy insists that Rebecca meet Jake in person so that Rebecca can reach out if Jake seems like The One. This is obviously bad news for Cassidy, because Rebecca and Jake’s chemistry has gone off the rails and they both start having sexy fantasies about each other, and it’s probably the only time I’ve ever seen real, wet open-mouth kisses on a Hallmark Mouth saw film even though they are just hallucinations? [CUT TO: Me, scandalized.]

There are some obstacles in Rebecca and Jake’s path; Firstly, Cassidy and also the fact that Maureen is trying to get Rebecca together with an old classmate from her hometown, Bobby. The drama that arises from these storylines is pretty predictable, right down to the moment Rebecca and Jake get together at the end.

Our opinion: Most of the time I watched The real westI loved how airy and charming everything was. Every character, from the pragmatic but funny Rebecca to the wise but elusive Jake to the flighty but supportive Cassidy, was fully realized and their characters were likable and fully formed. While the film’s main drama certainly revolves around Rebecca’s quiet resignation to the man she longs for dating her sister, with a Hallmark movie you always knew she would get her man in the end. What I didn’t expect was the emotional resonance that a scene with Rebecca’s younger son Ollie (Azriel Dalman) elicited.

It turns out Rebecca’s life wasn’t the only one turned upside down by her husband’s sudden death three years ago. Near the end of the film, Ollie, an average boy with an obsession with ghosts, runs away without telling anyone to go “ghost hunting” on the ranch. When he is found (by Jake, of course), he explains that he really wanted to find a ghost because if ghosts turned out to be real, he might be able to see his father again. Oof. Rebecca may have been hesitant to move on and look for love again, but as she sees her son also struggling, she realizes that perhaps moving on will be a good thing for all of them. It’s not just one of those throwaway dramatic arcs, but a catalyst for change – in that moment she realizes that she needs to take the reins of her happiness (literally – she rides a horse, to meet Jake and confess her love to him). Thanks to the excellent cast and nuanced dialogue, what could have been predictable and cheesy turns out to be a wonderfully warm and funny love story.

Parting shot: Rebecca, Jake and their family all dance together at one final hoedown at the end of the week.

Performance worth seeing: Linda Boyd, who plays Rebecca’s mother Maureen, brings a gleeful sense of humor to each reading. The film has a number of solid comedic performances, but hers is naturalistic and expertly delivered and reaches the top.

Memorable dialogue: “Nothing worthwhile comes without risk.” “I like to take things as they come. Life is never what you expect, but that’s what makes it interesting.” Jake is usually a quiet man, but he has a tendency to use pithy maxims that sound like fortune cookies.

Our call: STREAM IT! The real west is one of the better Hallmark romances I’ve seen this year, and I’ve seen a lot. With a mix of humor and tenderness and endearing but not intrusive characters, it’s two hours well spent.

Liz Kocan is a pop culture writer based in Massachusetts. She gained her greatest fame by winning the game show Chain reaction.