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While vacationing in the Azores, attractive young book editor Alison Shaeffer (Jayne Brook) discovers to her dismay that her "absentee" mother Gloria (Dyan Cannon) is a longtime CIA agent. Alison doesn't quite swallow this revelation until both she and Gloria are kidnapped by the villainous Vasquez (David Palffy). The abduction has something to do with a vial of deadly anthrax hidden in an ancient statue. Rescued (repeatedly) by a rabbi who isn't a rabbi (Kevin Kilner), and aided and abetted by Alison's peppery Grandma (Gloria Struart), the Shaeffer ladies do their best to stay one step ahead of the bad guys and strike a blow for democracy -- and in the process, mother and daughter get to know each other a whole lot better than ever before. Made for cable My Mother the Spy debuted May 8, 2000, over the Lifetime network.