Aspiring reporter Kit Kittredge (Abigail Breslin) can't resist bringing home strays, whether it's Grace, an
abandoned basset hound, or Will (Max Thieriot) and Countee (Willow Smith),
a pair of young hobos willing to trade work for meals. Bright, inquisitive and generous,
Kit is a natural born leader. But her happy childhood is abruptly interrupted when her
father (Chris O'Donnell) loses his car dealership and must leave Cincinnati to look for
work. Kit and her mother Margaret (Julia Ormond) are left to manage on their own,
growing vegetables, selling eggs and even taking in an assortment of boarders including
an itinerant magician (Stanley Tucci), a vivacious dance instructor on the prowl for a
husband (Jane Krakowski) and a zany mobile librarian (Joan Cusack).
When a crime spree sweeps Cincinnati, all signs point to the local "hobo jungle," where
Will and Countee live with a group of their impoverished companions. Kit, who always
has her antennae out for a good news story, convinces her new friends to take her to see
the hobo camp for herself and writes an article that creates a sympathetic portrait of the
camp's residents. But when Kit's mother and their boarders become the latest victims in a
string of robberies, Kit's loyalties are tested. Will is accused of the crimes and, with all of
their savings gone, the Kittredges face losing their house to foreclosure. Determined to
recover the stolen money and believing Will is innocent, Kit recruits her friends Ruthie
(Madison Davenport) and Stirling (Zach Mills) to help her track down the real culprit.
Together they uncover a plot that goes far beyond Cincinnati!
Canadian Connection: Filmed in Toronto and Tottenham, Ontario.