A Cinderella Story

A Cinderella Story is a teen romance movie starring Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray. A modern-day take on the classic story of Cinderella, the plot involves a lost cell phone, rather than the traditional glass slipper. Directed by Mark Rosman, the film also includes Jennifer Coolidge, Dan Byrd, Regina King, Julie Gonzalo and Lin Shaye. The movie features the song "Now You Know", written and performed by Kara DioGuardi. It features on the soundtrack being sung by Hilary Duff. The film was given mixed reviews by most critics, but the film was a box office success; at $51 million domestically and $70 million worldwide, it stands currently as Hilary Duff's most successful movie in a leading role.

Samantha 'Sam' Montgomery (Hilary Duff) lived a semi-fairytale life with her widowed father (who is later shown remarrying) when she was 8 years old in the San Fernando Valley, until the 1994 Northridge earthquake kills her father and leaves her with her plastic-surgery-obsessed stepmother Fiona and her two clumsy stepsisters Brianna and Gabriella. 8 years later, Sam is a straight-A student enduring snobbish Fiona, who turned her father's diner into a teeny-bopper hot spot and forces her to work as a "diner girl". In addition to her family, Sam must deal with the "popular" girls at school and an instant-messaging relationship with a "secret admirer" who wants to attend Princeton with her. Her only escapes from her cruel world are her friends: the dorky actor Carter, the diner manager Rhonda and her diner family, and Austin Ames, who is the star football player and her e-mail buddy who does not know who Sam is and vice versa.

As they text each other back and forth, Austin (Chad Michael Murray) invites Sam to the Halloween Homecoming dance so they can meet face-to-face, despite complications with his girlfriend Shelby and his athlete friends. At the same time, Fiona forces Sam to work late at the diner that night until 12AM. Carter, Rhonda, and the other diner employees help Sam get to the ball, masquerading as a princess in a mask and Rhoda's wedding dress. She meets Austin in the middle of the dance floor, and they dance and play "10 Questions", Sam never revealing her identity. As they dance outside in the gazebo, her cell phone alarm goes off at 11:45 PM and Sam flees so she can be back at the diner before Fiona finds her, dropping her cell phone in the process. Austin picks up the phone and wants to find Sam again.