The Stranger Within

The Stranger Within is a 1990 American made-for-television thriller film directed by Tom Holland and starring Rick Schroder, Kate Jackson and Chris Sarandon. It premiered on CBS on November 27, 1990. Plot In October 1974 rural Grove's Mill, Minnesota, widow Mare Blackburn's (Kate Jackson) 3-year-old son Luke (Ross Swanson) is kidnapped by an unknown woman when Mare briefly relaxes her supervision of Luke in the small town's supermarket. Mare blames herself for the kidnapping and has difficulty processing the loss. Sixteen years later, Mare is now in a happy long-distance relationship with Dan (Chris Sarandon) – a California man who moved to Minneapolis after the suicide of his son - when a young man named Mark (Rick Schroder) shows up, claiming to be her son. Mare is reluctant to take him in, fearing that he is playing a cruel joke, until he shares memories from the past and shows a scar from a stove burn that matches with Luke's. He explains that he was raised in Idaho, and is now on a rest stop in Minnesota before returning to New York City to take a job. Mare is excited to catch up on sixteen years with her son, but Dan continues to doubt Mark's credibility. One day, Mare takes Mark to the supermarket where the kidnapping took place, but faints. In the hospital, Mark finds out that Mare is pregnant and is surprised that she does not want him to tell Dan. Dan continues to seek evidence that will prove whether or not Mark is actually Luke, despite Mare's confession that she does not want to know whether Mark's story proves to be either true or false. At the police station, Dan finds out that the city in Idaho where Mark claims to have grown up - "Emerald City" - does not exist. Upset with Mark, Dan reluctantly saves his life when he almost falls off the roof. Mark then claims that Emerald City was a lie told to cover up his much worse past, and assures Dan of his credibility by showing him a birth mole that Luke also had. Shortly after, Mare rejects the latest of several marriage proposals from Dan, who has just found out through Mark about her pregnancy. During an ice fishing trip, Dan confronts Mark yet again about the lies about his past. Feeling trapped, Mark pushes Dan into the water and lets him drown to death under the ice. Mark then returns to the house and cuts the phone wire and electricity cable, as well as disabling the motor in Mare's car, thus ensuring that Mare has no way to call for help and no other place to go.