Mare Winningham met her second husband, Bill Mapel, on the set of this film. A former carnival worker, he was working as a technical advisor for the film. The couple have 5 children, and divorced in the late 1990's.
Mare Winningham sings six original songs in the film, all of them written by Janis Ian. Ian released her own version of two of the songs ("Dear Billy" and "Sugar Mountain") on her 1981 album "Restless Eyes". A third, "On The Way To Me" was released in 1998 on a compilation of unreleased songs from throughout all her career. Winningham's recordings were never commercially released.
First of three movies starring Mare Winningham written by Barbara Turner, the others being Eye on the Sparrow (1987) and Georgia (1995). Winningham has been friends with Turner's daughter Jennifer Jason Leigh since their late teens.
Writer Barbara Turner based her teleplay on the experiences of her daughter, Carrie Ann Morrow, who ran away from home at 16 to join a carnival. The final credit on the film reads, "Based on certain events in the life of Carrie Morrow."