Samantha is a 1992 American film starring actress Martha Plimpton

Martha Plimpton

Martha Campbell Plimpton is an American actress and singer and former model. Plimpton is a screen, stage and television actress. She first appeared as Jonsy in the feature film River Rats before rising to prominence in the Richard Donner film The Goonies portraying the character Stef...

. Though at the time already a film actress for nearly ten years, this was the first vehicle in which Plimpton was the star. The film co-starred Mary Kay Place

Mary Kay Place

Mary Kay Place is an American actress, singer, director and screen writer. She is best known as portraying Loretta Haggers on the television series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, a role which won her a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Comedy Series in 1977...

, Hector Elizondo

Hector Elizondo

Héctor Elizondo is an American actor. Elizondo's first major role was that of "God" in the play Steambath, for which he won an Obie Award...

, Ione Skye

Ione Skye

Ione Skye Lee is an English-born American actress, who became a teen idol after the 1989 movie Say Anything.... In 2006 VH1 placed her at number 84 in the "100 Greatest Teen Stars" list.-Early life:...

 and Dermot Mulroney

Dermot Mulroney

-Early life:Mulroney was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the son of Ellen, a housewife and amateur actress originally from Manchester, Iowa, and Michael Mulroney, a law professor at Villanova University School of Law, originally from Elkader, Iowa. He has a sister, Moira, and three brothers, Conor,...

. It was a commercial failure, with mixed critical review.

The film was released in the fall and promoted as a romance blockbuster. A soundtrack/score album was released in anticipation of success that never came. The film featured cameo appearances by Robert Picardo

Robert Picardo

Robert Picardo is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayals of Dr. Dick Richards on ABC's China Beach, the Emergency Medical Hologram , also known as The Doctor, on UPN's Star Trek: Voyager, The Cowboy in Innerspace, Coach Cutlip on The Wonder Years , Ben Wheeler in Wagons East, and as...

 (who would later find fame as The Doctor on Star Trek: Voyager

Star Trek: Voyager

Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...

) and Maryedith Burnell. Burnell had previously played the character of Helen Buckman, mother to Julie Buckman in the television version of the film Parenthood; in the film version, Julie was played by Martha Plimpton.

Plot

The film revolves around Plimpton as the title character, a hugely talented violinist who discovers on her 21st birthday that she was left on the steps of her parents' (Place and Elizondo) home and subsequently adopted.

She goes into a panic, asserting that everything she has believed herself to be is a lie. She abandons music (just before her senior university recital) and moves in with childhood friend Henry (Mulroney). As she searches for her true identity she becomes oblivious to the inconvenience and suffering her search is causing the people she loves.

Ultimately she locates her birth parents, who are emotionally cold towards her but who are professional concert musicians (a harpist and a flautist

Flautist

A flautist or flutist is a musician who plays an instrument in the flute family. See List of flautists.The choice of "flautist" versus "flutist" is the source of dispute among players of the instrument...

.) She realizes that her gift of music came from within, but that despite no blood-connection, her family is truly her own.