THE LITTLEST GUARDIAN

Five-year-old Lily lives at the "Home of Gratitude" orphanage. Her mother, Vera, was framed for fraud by an art gallery owner named Adrian and wrongfully imprisoned. At an art exhibition, Lily publicly revealed the truth—which her mother had hidden on the back of a painting—and, with the help of a female journalist’s live broadcast, secured her mother’s exoneration. Meanwhile, her father, Daniel, awoke from a three-year coma; his testimony led to Adrian’s imprisonment, and the family was finally reunited. Just as their happiness began, a runaway car sped toward Lily during a wedding; her mother pushed her out of the way but was struck and left critically injured. Lily noticed that her mother would freeze whenever she saw a certain man—Marcus, the mastermind who had hired Adrian. The car crash was no accident. Lily memorized his face and observed his telltale habit of glancing toward the river whenever he was afraid. Using a map shown on a television news report, she tracked him down to a warehouse with a blue door. Confronting him, she declared, "My mother is innocent, and you’re going to jail!"—a moment of shock that allowed the police to apprehend him. Her mother recovered and returned home, the children from the orphanage lined up to apologize, and a little boy named Ben joined the family, who then held a belated wedding celebration. The story comes full circle: the smallest guardian has managed to protect her entire world.