I don't remember what I was originally looking for when I stumbled across this on YouTube, but it brought a ton of memories flooding back. I was absolutely obsessed with this movie as a young adult. I was in eighth grade at the time, and being the same age as as the character, developed a huge crush on "Francher."
From Wikipedia:
The People is a 1972 television film, broadcast as an ABC Movie of the Week on January 22, 1972. It is mostly based on a novella by Zenna Henderson, "Pottage", but also contains elements from her stories "Ararat", "Gilead", and "Captivity". It stars Kim Darby and William Shatner.
This science fiction film tells the story of Melodye Amerson (Kim Darby), a young teacher who goes to a remote area to work with a group of individuals who have isolated themselves from civilization and maintained an independent community, vaguely similar to the Amish or a religious commune. Melodye is unnerved by the secretive behavior of her students, and the fact that all fun, games and activities she proposes are forbidden to them. Valancy (Diane Varsi), an elder in the community, advises Melodye to stay, because she senses that things are about to change in the valley, and Melodye herself is a part of that change.
Melodye soon discovers that the secluded and "backwards" residents are actually aliens with mild paranormal powers. A natural disaster destroyed their planet, and they are hoping to establish a life on Earth. Landing in the late 1800s, initially they shared their secret with local residents, but found themselves condemned as witches. Many were killed, and the survivors forbade their children ever to use their abilities, even with extreme discretion. Young adults like Valancy (and even some of the older people) have been pushing for an end to these restrictions.
What surprised me the most about seeing this again some forty years later is how I remembered not only the music, but also most of the dialog. This is amazing considering this was many years prior to VCRs, so I couldn't have seen it more than a couple times yet somehow managed to commit so much of it to memory. This speaks volumes about what an impression this movie left on me.
It also explains the origin of a lot of the themes contained in a short story I wrote a couple years later in high school; something else I had completely forgotten about until I found it while going through my Dad's effects a year ago.