santa monica (calif.)

When an overweight high school student from Santa Monica spends the summer in Italy, she learns to relish life and understand the true meaning of beauty.

While searching for her lost dog, Danny, twelve-year-old Bree meets Rayleen--a volunteer at the local animal shelter--who helps Bree put her life in perspective.

Eighteen-year-old Vince Luca, son of mob boss Anthony Luca, goes away to college in southern California hoping to escape his past, but soon his brother and a series of "uncles" appear at his dorm, and before long he is caught up in criminal activity once again.