Never Too Late

Synopsis

SOPHIA PEREZ, is a young insecure woman whose life has been overtaken with submissiveness to her abusive father and boyfriend. She tries to escape her miserable situation by going to nursing school and working at an Italian restaurant to pay for it. Her goal is to get a good job in a hospital and become independent. Her father and boyfriend make it impossible for her to achieve her dream. She feels that it’s too late for change in her life and wants to give up trying to better herself. Her life changes for the better when she meets an elderly man, TONY MORETTI, in the park where she walks her dog, ROOSTER. He walks his dog, DUKE, there every day. When they meet, Tony has just come from his doctor who told him that he is dying of lung cancer. He is weary and the only place to sit is a bench next to Sophia who ruminates about her horrible life. He asks her what is wrong and learns how insecure she is. When they discover that their dogs are named after John Wayne movies, which they both love, he befriends her and decides to help her become more assertive and confident. She has no idea that he is the head of the Moretti crime family or that he is dying of lung cancer. As they get to know each other over time, he teaches her about the power within and she helps him come to terms with his life regrets. During all their encounters in the park, Sophia is not aware that Tony’s nephew, MARCELLO MORETTI, who is his bodyguard and hitman, has been watching them socialize from behind bushes ready to kill her at any moment if he felt Tony’s life was in danger from her. Over time, he loosens up and enjoys watching Tony teach her how to be in control of her obnoxious dog. Eventually, he is charmed by her as is Tony. None of Tony’s family knows that he is dying. He meets with his lawyer to arrange for Sophia, who he has grown to love, to receive part of his estate. He arranges for her money to be put into a trust handled by an undisclosed lawyer. He makes amends with his daughter, EVA, who always wanted to be a teacher, but Tony forced to marry another mobster. He tells her that she should stand up to her husband and go to college to become a teacher. Now that he is dying, he realizes the love he has for her and wants to be there for her before it’s too late. When Eva asks him if he’s all right, he tells her that an Angel came to him and made him realize what a horrible father he was to his own daughter and he wants to change that. Knowing that his sons will retaliate against Sophia, he arranges with the lawyer to give his nephew, Marcello, a check for one million dollars as payment upfront for protecting Sophia from his sons. Tony sets up his own death by getting into a heated argument with the commissioner of the New York Mafia, PAUL CAMPANELLA, who wants the trafficking of Heroin to stop since the Feds are on their ass. Tony pretends to pull a gun on the commissioner, but the commissioner fires first killing him. When Tony dies, it is a shock to the family, especially when the lawyer reads the will stating that Sophia Perez would inherit part of his estate. No one knows who she is and believes that she must have been one of Tony’s whores. They vow to find and kill her for their rightful inheritance. Marcello receives the check and doesn't want to be part of Tony's scheme especially when he is told by the lawyer that Tony has arranged for him to go to law school at the university to be closer to Sophia and away from doing hitman work for the family. Marcello doesn’t know how to be anything else but a hitman and refuses. The lawyer tells him that he is left with no choice as Tony's plan B was to have Marcello killed if he didn't cooperate. Tony’s oldest son, MICHAEL, who is full of himself and now head of the family orchestrates his brothers, MARIO, a muscle-bound brute, and FRANKIE, a ruthless sociopathic drug addict to find and kill Sophia. Unbeknownst to Michael, he suffers from cardiac problems but thinks it’s heartburn. The mafia commissioners are on his ass about his refusal to stop the Heroin trade, but his poor health interferes with him being able to efficiently run the family business. For one thing, he owes the Russians millions in return for the prostitutes they sold him. He doesn’t have the money, and the Russians are threatening him. He needs Sophia’s share of the inheritance to pay them. He steps up the efforts to find her, but there are many Sophia Perez’s in New York. After locating Sophia, Michael’s brothers instruct Marcello to kill her, but knowing he can’t, he keeps making it look like he’s missing his mark. Fed up, Michael sends his brother, Frankie to finish the job. He runs Sophia down at a high speed in his car along with the unknown man she is walking home with (Marcello). Both are assumed dead. Sophia walks away with a broken arm and leg. Marcello has a concussion with several leg fractures and is in the hospital. While Sophia is at his bedside, Marcello’s cousin, Eva, comes to see how he is doing. She and the family are under the assumption that Marcello was in a car accident alone when hit by another vehicle. Sophia introduces herself and Eva is dumbfounded at meeting the infamous Sophia. She learns that Sophia and Marcello are in a relationship and that Sophia is not a whore, but instead is a hard-working woman going to nursing school. When asked how she met her father, Eva learns about the bond her dad developed with Sophia and is touched by a side of her father didn’t know. Weeks later, Sophia is well enough to go back to complete her clinical at the hospital. While reading a chart, she overhears some staff talking about Marcello and calling him a hitman for the Moretti family. She is shocked to learn that the nice elderly man whom she befriended was the boss of one of the most vicious crime families in New York. She storms Marcello’s hospital room and confronts him. He tells her about the plot to protect her and about the inheritance. She wants no part of it or him. To make matters worse, Michael learns the truth about Marcello’s accident and his relationship with Sophia and vows to kill them. Marcello confides in Eva that he is in love with Sophia, but that she refuses to have anything to do with him ever again. Eva goes to Sophia’s apartment and tells her to forgive Marcello. Then she storms into Michael’s office insisting that he leave the two of them alone. If he refuses, she is going to supply the Feds with all the evidence they need to lock him up for a long time. Not knowing what to do, Michael goes to the restaurant where Sophia works and confronts her about the money. She tells him that he can have it all. Suddenly he has a massive heart attack. Sophia performs CPR and saves his life. While he recuperates in the hospital, Sophia visits him and wants to know if he is going to kill her. Having saved his life, he decides not to have her killed. She inquires about Marcello. Michael tells her that he is moving to Boston for law school and that she should move with him. She finds Marcello at the park. Both Rooster and Duke are excited and jump all over him licking him up. He tells her that he wants to stay in New York instead if she wanted him too. The dogs bark with excitement. Life is good.