Down Will Come Baby

Leah Garr is a workaholic whose career often takes her away from her home in Phoenix, Arizona, causing tension with her husband Marcus, who wants her to spend more time with her family. Tired of their constant fighting, the couple's 12-year-old daughter Robin insists on going away to summer camp. At camp, Robin befriends Amelia, an odd girl who lives with her abusive and controlling mother. One night, Robin decides to sneak off for a swim in a nearby lake and convinces Amelia to join her. Amelia is not a good swimmer and ends up drowning, leaving Robin ridden with guilt. Meanwhile, Leah accepts a big promotion that requires her to move to Denver, such that she only gets to see her family on the weekends.

While hanging out at the park, Robin is approached by a friendly stranger named Dorothy Cotton, who later turns out to be Robin's new neighbor. In Leah's absence, Dorothy ingratiates herself in Robin's life, offering to help look after the girl whenever Marcus is busy. Leah is suspicious of Dorothy's intentions, but Marcus reassures her that Dorothy is just trying to be a good friend. Dorothy encourages Robin to confide in her, and Robin admits that she blames herself for her friend Amelia's death. Dorothy shares that her younger sister was also named Amelia, who she claims accidentally fell to her death when they were playing in their attic as children. Robin becomes creeped out by Dorothy's increasingly obsessive behavior, which includes stalking her, rearranging her bedroom, and yelling at the girl when she does not follow her instructions to the letter. Robin shares her fears with Marcus, who thinks she is overreacting. Unbeknownst to the Garrs, Dorothy has also been listening in on their conversations through a baby monitor she hid in Robin's room.

Marcus is grateful when Dorothy agrees to stay over with Robin while he and Leah are out of town. While staying over, Dorothy's overbearing conduct gets on Robin's nerves. When the latter tries to call her mother to complain, Dorothy knocks her unconscious in a fit of rage. Leah and Marcus return home to find their daughter missing and they call the police after noticing blood on the doorframe. The worried couple convince their landlord to unlock Dorothy's barely lived-in apartment, where they find photographs of Robin's friend Amelia. The Garrs realize that Dorothy has been lying about her true identity, and that she is in fact the mother of Robin's deceased friend, who in turn was named after Dorothy's deceased sister. Meanwhile, Robin is being held captive in her late friend's bedroom by a delusional Dorothy, who believes that Robin is actually her daughter Amelia. Tired of waiting for the police, Leah and Marcus break into the summer camp's office, where they find out that Dorothy's real name is Gretchen McIntyre. They rush to Gretchen's address and arrive just in time to stop Gretchen from branding Robin with a hot iron as punishment for her disobedience. The police arrive shortly thereafter and Gretchen has a mental breakdown as she is taken into custody. On their way home, Leah announces that she is going to leave her job post in Denver to be with her family in Phoenix, much to Marcus and Robin's delight.

Down Will Come Baby was written and directed by Gregory Goodell,^[2] based on the 1991^[3] novel of the same name by Gloria Murphy.^[4] It was produced by Hearst Entertainment for CBS, with Renee Valente and Paullette Breen serving as executive producers. The creative team also included Tom Del Ruth (director of photography), Paul Dixon (editor), and Joseph Conlan (composer).^[2] CBS had previously adapted another one of Murphy's novels, Simon Says (1994), into the 1996 television film Summer of Fear.^[5] While Murphy was unhappy with the previous adaptation, she approved of Goodell's adaptation of Down Will Come Baby, believing that his script stayed true to her original story and characters. There were some changes made for the film, such as the setting being switched from New England to Arizona.^[4]

Meredith Baxter said the role of Leah appealed to her because she could relate to the struggle of being a working mother.^[6] She was also drawn to the notion put forth in the script that even ordinary people can find themselves in extraordinary situations, noting that the film starts out following a very normal family before taking a sudden sinister turn. Having done her share of true crime television dramas, Baxter was pleased to be a part of a film that is based on a fictional story.^[7] She explained:

This confirms that the networks are again ready and willing to accept stories made up by the magnificence of a writer's mind. For a long period of time, it seemed a script had to come from the headlines before it had any dramatic credibility.^[7]

The film was shot on location in Phoenix, Arizona, based out of the downtown area,^[8] from February to March 1999.^[9][10] It was shot over 18 days in what Baxter described as a "pretty demanding" schedule.^[7] Several local Arizonan actors rounded out the supporting cast including Booze-Mooney, Thompson, Glaeser, and McKay.^[10]