Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring debuted on the ABC television network on February 16, 1971, as their Movie of the Week. It was a movie made specifically for television, and told the story of two young women, sisters Denise and Susie Miller, who are both following the hippie lifestyle but whose choices are not always good ones. Denise, the older of the two, is played by Sally Field, and she blazes a trail for her little sister to follow. Ultimately, after Denise has returned home from the hippie colony she has been residing in, Susie, played by Lane Bradbury, leaves home herself, to walk the same path. Denise has come home because the hippie culture is not all that the media has made it out to be and so she is saddened when her sister sees her mistakes but repeats them anyway. Adding to her discomfort is the universally disapproving reaction to her life decisions from her parents and family members, leaving her with the painful realization that her life would have been better if she had continued to live at home and never joined the colony in the first place.
Director Joseph Sargent had high hopes for the movie; he had just won a Prime Time Emmy Award nomination the previous year for the made-for-television movie Tribes, an award he would go on to win in 1973 for The Marcus Nelson Murders, which turned out to be the television premiere of the hit cult television series Kojak. After winning eight Directors Guild of America Awards for his television movies he was given the Lifetime Achievement Award by this organization. To his surprise, thought,the reception for Maybe I'll Come Home in the Spring was lukewarm from critics and reviewers, although the performances of both Sally Field and Lane Bradbury were universally praised. Bradbury, playing the little sister, was actually a few years older than Field, which Sargent looked upon as a testament to the versatility of both performers in their ability to create a convincing sibling relationship.
The movie was also heralded for its soundtrack, which included a title track recorded by Linda Ronstadt.
