The latest in a series of first-rate dramas from David Stanley, Morning Star focuses on Dasha as an unhappy wife who leaves ill-mannered husband Cheyne Collins and runs off. Good ol' boy Dale DaBone hears her calling in a Dear John message to Collins' answering machine and tries to buddy up with her, but she's not buying. After she meets up with college buddy Brittany Star and being catalytic to an argument between Star and her guy, she takes off for San Antone and DaBone, who puts down his copy of Sensitive Guy magazine long enough to tell Dasha that her problem is she's always running away from things - like her marriage, like the fight between Star and her guy - and maybe she should go back and face her problems.

"Maybe you're right," she says. "But there's one thing I should do first." And she and DaBone have a powerhouse fuck, ending with him shooting a quart of spoo on her tits. Chastened, she heads back home - but all may not be well, as a heartbreaking final shot implies.

Five sex scenes, easily removable for cable, provide requisite heat, and thought-provoking script by Stanley provides the first of his pre-noms for the 2003 AVN Awards Show.