Fare Well Miss Fortune (1999)

Ben Harrison, a thirty year old associate professor and bachelor, has only himself to care for. Ever since his father died, when he was a teen, Ben has been unable to break through a shield that prevents him from getting close to others. Presently he spends his days teaching a summer course entitled "Video Arts" and spends his nights playing poker and entertaining his lady friend of the moment. Terra Jansen is a nine year old girl who lives on the wrong side of the tracks with her father, Frank. Following his wife's death, Frank has been making ends meet by salvaging odds and ends, while Terra takes care of him at home. One morning, after dropping Terra at school, Frank collides with Ben's car. At the hospital, Ben sees Frank go into cardiac arrest and die. As Ben is released, he palms a locket belonging to Terra that was found on her father. At the children's facility where Terra is staying, Ben misrepresents himself as a family friend in order to return Terra's treasured locket to her. This one act sparks a chain of events in which Ben becomes her temporary foster parent and his simple bachelor life is turned completely on its head. Yet Ben and Terra form an unusual bond - and Terra breaks through the shell nobody else has been able to crack for years. However, they each harbor both a secret and a lie that will ultimately pull them apart. In the end, Ben does everything he can to win back her trust...only to bravely let her go.