What is V.C. Andrews’ Dawn Part 2 about on Lifetime?

Dawn Part 1, the start of Lifetime’s four week event for its film adaptation of the V.C. Andrews books, introduced viewers to the eponymous character whose life is turned upside down when her parents’ secret is revealed moments after her mother’s death.

She’d been under the impression that she was a Longchamp, part of a loving, working class family who supported one another through thick and thin. But she’d actually been born a Cutler, part of a well-to-do, extremely wealthy family whose riches came from the hotel they ran in Hampton, VA. Upon learning of this truth, and her father’s arrest for kidnapping, she was taken to Cutler’s Cove to live with her biological family.

While there, Dawn suffered the cruelty of her grandmother Lillian, snide comments by her sister Clara Jean, unwanted advances from her brother, Philip, who she’d been seeing prior to learning that they were blood related, and had to uncover the full story behind what happened 16 years ago on her own. She learned she wasn’t actually kidnapped, she was given to the Longchamps after they lost their own daughter.

Her birth mother, Lara Jean, had had an affair which resulted in a pregnancy. Lillian tried to get her daughter-in-law to terminate the pregnancy, but she wouldn’t. Instead she convinced her to let her husband, Randolph, believe the baby was his. For a time, Lillian allowed the lie, but she tired of it and put into motion a plan to cast Dawn off onto another family.

She and Lara Jean let everyone believe that the baby had been kidnapped. Her nurse, Mrs. Dalton, was paid off. And, after a year, Lillian forced her son to move on and commissioned a headstone for Eugenia Cutler as a form of closure even though she knew her granddaughter was safe and sound with the Longchamps.

Dawn used the threat of ruin to her advantage and blackmailed Lillian into finding a way to get the father who raised her out of jail, calling her by her preferred name, being respected, and securing a spot in a school with an excellent music program so Dawn could pursue a career in singing. Part 1 ends with our lead heading off to New York City to attend the Bernhart School of Music. What happens next? Here’s what we know.

What is Dawn Part 2 about?

The official synopsis via A & E:

"After disturbing details of Dawn’s past are revealed, she finally has the upper hand with her grandmother Lillian and orchestrates her move to New York City to attend the best performing arts school. While residing in a boarding house run by headmistress and aging actress, Agnes Morris, Dawn still dreams about Jimmy and the anguished secrets they share. But when Michael Sutton arrives—a new teacher and Broadway star, he sets his sights on Dawn. Dawn falls under his seductive spell but when he suddenly disappears, Dawn is once again at the mercy of her grandmother’s twisted schemes."

Dawn Part 2 Lifetime release date

Officially titled, “Secrets of the Morning,” Part 2 premieres Saturday, July 15 at 8 p.m. ET on Lifetime. If you missed the debut of the movie, it’ll re-air Sunday, July 16 at 12:01 a.m. The network will also re-air Part 1 of the film series at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

Stay tuned to Hidden Remote for more Lifetime news and coverage.