A Little Romance

Thirteen-year-old Daniel Michon, a movie buff, especially Hollywood movies, lives just outside of Paris with his crooked cabbie father. Thirteen-year-old American Lauren has lived in Paris for three years with her mother, self-absorbed actress Kay King, and her second stepfather, Kay's current husband, wealthy Richard King, a computer company executive. Lauren calls him Richard instead of a dad or father, because she expects him just to be the latest in a long string of stepfathers, and she figures it's easier to say goodbye to a "Richard" than it is to a "dad". Based on Kay's flirtations, it looks as if that next stepfather could be hack Hollywood movie Director George De Marco. Regardless, Lauren loves Richard, who seems to love Lauren more than Kay does, or at least understands Lauren more than Kay does. When Daniel and Lauren meet for the first time on the set of George's latest movie, it's love at first sight. That attraction is strengthened when they learn they are both intellectuals, and as such, outsiders among their peers. Their unlikely romance is threatened by an incident at Lauren's birthday party. As such, Lauren and Daniel decide to run away together to Venice to fulfill Lauren's romantic fantasy, hopefully before their money runs out, which they know will not last forever. Because they know they will have issues, especially crossing the border, they enlist the help of a kindly old gentleman named Julius Edmond Santorin, a true romantic. Julius uses a special skill he possesses to help the pair, that skill, if Lauren and Daniel found out, would require the trio to stick together more than ever to elude the authorities, who would be looking for all three of them.