Melindas World

Plot

Set in the American Mid-west of the 1950s, Melinda (Jenifer Olivares), the eleven-year-old daughter of sour parents (Christina Raines and Thomas Michael Kappler), finds interest in small things: a spun silver spiderweb, her box of treasures, and an afternoon at Silver Lake on her "day of days". Melindas often known as a "silly goose" by her best friend, Alice Wasser (Jennifer McClusky). As the movie progresses, Melinda experiences ageless comforts and pains. Eliot Bradley (Chad Stevens), a waylaid college professors enters her life along with a warmhearted waitress (Ruth de Sosa), who introduces Melinda to the blues and Coca-Cola. And she receives her first explorative attention from a teasing boy named Stuart Wasser (Zac Efron) Escalating tragedy, the death of her beloved Aunt Calla (Mary McKowen), is climaxed by her fathers eruption into angry drunkenness, shattering Melindas innocence forever and sending her fleeing into the night. The ultimate triumph of Melindas spirit culminates when at years end she once again visits her treasure box with bittersweet memories.