The Tall Girl's Friend

the long version

The Tall Girl's Friend tells the tale of 10 year olds Olive and Suzee, social outcasts but in decidedly different ways, and the after-school friendship they form while hanging out in the model homes of a nearby tract home development. There, they meet Lola, a once-famous and now homeless actress who has been living in the model homes. Olive and Suzee join forces to transport Lola home from Southern California to Portland, Ore. via the Amtrak Coast Starlight for a reunion with her estranged family. The journey north is filled with obstacles and set-backs, and when Lola's mysterious past is revealed; forgiveness, acceptance, and friendship. Olive is forced to begin to come to terms with her parents' divorce along the way, and Suzee finds that she is not as alone in the world as she once believed.