The Scent of a Woman

Chris O'Donnell plays Charlie Simms, a seventeen-year-old boy attending Baerd Prep School for Boys. He is a kind young man with a good soul. For Thanksgiving break he takes a job watching over retired U.S. officer Leitunant Colonel Frank Slade, played by Al Pacino. The Colonel, now blind, is a tough man with a rough exterior (not to mention, a bit of a drunk), but Charlie learns over time that he is kind hearted and has good intentions. He surprises Charlie by telling him they are going on a trip to New York City.

The trip turns out to be an adventure where Charlie will meet Frank's family and find out the true reason he is blind. The whole time in New York they eat at fancy restaurants with $24 hamburgers and stay at the Waldorf. Frank later reveals to Charlie that he is in New York to eat at an expensive restaurant, stay at an amazing hotel, sleep with a beautiful woman, and then commit suicide.

Meanwhile, Charlie is having a dilema at school where him and a fellow student witnessed an act of vandalism on campus and he is being held responsible until he tells what he saw and who did it. The headmaster told him he would take away his chance to go to Harvard if he doesn't fess up.

Charlie is struggling with the problem at school during the weekend in New York. He shares the story with Colonel Slade and Slade gives him advice. They exchange thier views on the matter. Where Charlie stands, he isn't going to rat out anyone and doesn't want to use connections to get into Harvard and risk his honor and character in the meantime.

In a crucial scene of the movie, Charlie has to fight with Slade in order to keep him from commiting suicide. He succeeds in the end and thier friendship and confidence in eachother only grows. By the end of the trip, a true bond has flourished.