Back in the day, Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray were essentially teen royalty. They were the Miley Cyrus and Zac Efron of their time, if that helps anyone understand how popular they were. So, naturally, A Cinderella Story was much anticipated and very much loved by the target audience upon its release in 2004. It was marketed as a modern-day take on Cinderella, except minus the royalty and it's a Halloween ball instead.
Duff plays Sam, who is raised by her widowed father. As you can probably guess, he then marries an awful woman with two awful daughters and then promptly dies. While trying to save money as a waitress in order to pay for college, Sam begins a pen pal relationship with Austin, who is played by Murray. You can guess what happens in the end!