Logline:A debutante who becomes a waitress, an ex-con who becomes an informer, a couple who become a family.
He’s an ex-con struggling to stay clean; she’s a debutante who’s run from abuse. They become each other’s inspiration when urban crime threatens their lives and temporarily separates them.Their reunion proves their past is behind them and love is the mold for their future.
Angel Medina, a parolee mechanic with a profitable side business in stolen cars, is gunned down in the street by his drug-addled girlfriend.He shoots and kills her in self-defense.Critically injured, lying on the cold pavement of a Baltimore street, he begins to re-evaluate his life choices.
Once he’s released from the hospital, Angel makes a commitment to sobriety and honesty, a tricky task considering his gritty, urban lifestyle.On his first full day back at work, he flees his incessant cravings and busies himself with laundry and a foot-long sub.
At the Laundromat he’s fascinated by a displaced college girl, Daria Bromwell, who looks far too refined for the setting, and has obviously never used a coin laundry before.Angel comes to her rescue when he finds she’s broke and hungry.He’s captivated by her quirks, and wonders how she’ll survive.
Despite Daria’s protest that she doesn’t need protection, instinct tells Angel to follow her home.He learns she’s homeless and has been locked out of her squatter’s refuge.Touched by her circumstances, he offers her housing and safety for the night.A tentative friendship begins between the two polar opposites.
Daria’s reality is, there are no jobs and no shelter beds, and before they know it, she and Angel have become unorthodox roommates.Over time Daria lands her first job and Angel gets an unexpected windfall. At the bank, Angel’s eyes are opened to her family’s wealth and prominence. The two start to share secrets – she confesses her step father molested her; he confesses he shot and killed his previous girlfriend in self-defense.
Angel’s confession gives Daria serious pause; she reflects on all their experiences, and concludes that he is a good man.Daria recognizes her own sexual curiosity about him, and wonders if Angel shares those same feelings.The two start to feel confident about life and each other when crime threatens their lives again.
Angel wrestles with his conscience when his former crime-boss, Moe, demands he boost another series of cars.He confesses his past crimes to Daria, and together they move to a new refuge, seemingly out-of-sight.In their new small apartment, their relationship deepens.
After a few weeks the honeymoon atmosphere is shattered when Angel is confronted by Moe, who threatens Daria’s safety.Terrified for his new love’s well-being Angel takes her to the only place she’s safe – the home of Gloria, her family’s former cook and housekeeper.Though it breaks their hearts to say goodbye, Angel explains he must resolve the situation with Moe before they can be together.
Knowing that Daria is protected, Angel risks his life by going to the police. The police appreciate his cooperation, yet when help is most needed they miss protecting Angel from a brutal beating.
In the E.R. an observant detective realizes Angel is battling to stay straight and sober.An AA member himself, the detective arranges drug treatment for Angel where he can be secreted away from the pursuing gang.
Months of detailed interrogations are coupled with life-changing treatment.In the end, the authorities have the evidence they need to arrest a powerful car-theft ring, and Angel finds solid employment.The head of the gang has not been apprehended and Daria’s life is still in danger, so contact between the two is forbidden.Tortured by her absence, Angel tries to secretly contact her, but his message goes awry.
When Daria realizes she’ll be separated from Angel for more than a few weeks, Gloria encourages her to plan an independent life.She finds comfort in culinary school.After a few months, with Gloria’s help, she purchases a sandwich cart and positions it on a busy street corner.Her talent with food makes her small business a huge success.
After nearly a year apart, the ring-leader of the car thieves is caught and jailed.Angel immediately seeks out Daria, hoping she is still unattached.Gloria directs him to Daria’s new sandwich shop.Angel enters the shop torn between anxiety and the hope that Daria still loves him.Daria, shocked and thrilled to see him, locks a prospective customer out and closes business for the day, citing “lightening strike!”
Twenty years pass:Angel and Daria married immediately, and now have a teenaged son and daughter.They enjoy a happy middle-class life.Their dinner hour calm is shattered by a call notifying Daria that her mother has only hours to live.They hurry to her mother’s bedside, where Daria says goodbye, and her mother thanks Angel for being so good to her daughter.
Angel fulfills one of his long-cherished dreams when he confronts Daria’s stepfather, Arthur, about molesting her.Angel instructs Arthur to turn himself into the police as a child molester within 24 hours of his wife’s death.If not, Angel threatens, the call will be made for him. Shaken to his core, Arthur agrees to the demand, but leaves the hospital and disappears.
After Daria’s mother passes away, Angel and Daria walk the Harbor Promenade to reflect on their lives together.They sit on a bench and realize this is where their romance began.
They shirk off the evening’s sadness and return to Daria’s sandwich shop.There they remember their fervent reunion of 20 years ago.They reenact their lovemaking, now slower and with seasoned passion.Angel ends their pillow talk, saying, “For two people in love, pain and strife have no hold, these torments, well, they’re just invisible.”
The End
-- Edited by Global on Thursday 9th of September 2010 05:24:11 PM
