Long estranged from her father, Ben (Dwier Brown), Chicago-bred teenager Sydney Miller (
Camilla Belle) travels to Hawaii for a reunion. Not that there's any affection involved: it seems that Sydney has inherited several acres of valuable beachfront property from her late mother, who died years earlier in a freak surfing accident -- or so Sydney has been told. Urged to sell the property by both her father and her stepmother, Elizabeth (Lauren Sinclair), Sydney chooses instead to follow the advice of her new friends Kona (Brian Christopher Stark) and Gia (Stacie Hess) and hold on to her land rather than let it be plundered by evil developers. Along the way, Sydney not only develops a love of surfing and oceanic photography, but she also forms a bond with her dad -- and as bonus, she unearths the secret behind her mom's death, giving her the trump card in the exuberant finale. Produced for cable's Disney Channel,
Rip Girls made its TV premiere on April 22, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide