In 1985, Peterson won her first starring role in the feature film "Explorers". The next year, she co-starred as "Sunny Sisk" in the Emmy Award-winning miniseries "A Year in the Life". The miniseries was highly acclaimed and was third-highest-rated miniseries of the 1986–87 U.S. television season with a 16.9/27 rating/share. It was later adapted into a television series of the same name that aired on NBC from 1987 to 1988. For her work on the series, Peterson won a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress Starring in a Television Drama Series. Despite being critically acclaimed, "A Year in the Life" was canceled after one season.