When Calls The Heart, an original family drama about the Canadian west circa the early 1900s, has been picked up by Super Channel.

Based on the series of books by Canadian best-selling author Janette Oke and shot entirely in B.C., the series stars Erin Krakow (Army Wives), Daniel Lissing (Last Resort) and Lori Loughlin (Full House) and will make its Canadian broadcast premiere on Super Channel in the spring.

Rounded out by a mostly Canadian cast that includes two-time Leo nominee Steve Bacic (Republic of Doyle, Big Love), Genie-winner Martin Cummins (Eureka, V), and Chelah Horsdal (Blackstone, Hell on Wheels), When Calls The Heart follows the adventures of Elizabeth Thatcher (Krakow), a young teacher and daughter of a shipping magnate accustomed to high society, who receives her first classroom assignment in a small 19th century coal mining town called Coal Valley.

Emmy-nominee Loughlin plays Abigail Stanton, a wife and mother whose husband along with a dozen other miners, has just been killed in an explosion. The newly widowed women must work in the mines to keep a roof over their heads. Lissing plays Constable Jack Thornton, assigned to protect Thatcher, and to survive, Elizabeth will have to learn the ways of the frontier if she wishes to thrive in the rural west on her own.

Produced by Canadians Vicki Sotheran and Greg Malcolm, exec produced by Michael Shepard, written by Ken Craw (Heartland, Robson Arms), Vanessa Parise (Jack and Jill vs. the World) and Brian Bird (Touched by an Angel, Step by Step), When Calls the Heart is directed by Genie-award winner and Canadian filmmaking legend, Anne Wheeler, Emmy-nominee Neill Fearnley (R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour, Arctic Air), and Michael Landon Jr.

The series is also set to air in the U.S. ahead of the Canadian premiere, on the Hallmark Channel in January 2014.