AllMovie

Can a severe back injury bring two lonely people together? Tom (John Ritter) is a respected journalist who makes the serious mistake of becoming involved with a married woman -- the wife of his publisher. Tom's editor, Irene (Katey Sagal), is forced to give him his pink slip, but when Tom sees Irene one day with her car stuck in a ditch, he decides to let bygones be bygones and help push the car back onto the road. Tom manages to do some serious damage to his back in the process, and with no job and no health insurance, he's not sure what to do about it. Irene feels awful about the situation, and makes Tom an offer -- she'll agree to an "in name only" marriage so Tom would be eligible under her insurance benefits. Tom agrees, but what started as a marriage of convenience starts taking a more romantic turn than either of them expected. Chance of a Lifetime also stars Jean Stapleton and David Naughton.