While Rachael Leigh Cook may be the newest teen ingenue in "She's All That," she prefers to leave all that behind for the Sundance Film Festival. Cook stars in the quiet drama "The Hi-Line," a coming-of-age story about a young girl who discovers her true parentage in Montana. The film, showing in dramatic competition at the Utah festival, is the debut feature from director Ronald Judkins.

    At the Riverhorse Cafe on Main Street, Cook and her co-star Ryan Alosio arrive arm-in-arm for a cocktail party hosted by Showtime. The onscreen romance between Cook's naive character and the scruffy con man who falls in love with her resulted in an off-screen romance as well for the photogenic co-stars. Alosio said they both enjoyed the character drama of "The Hi-Line."

    "We really liked the genuineness of the script and the characters," Alosio said. "The crew that was put together, the director and producers, were a real family sort of feeling team. And to be able to work with people like that, and tell a story that we really cared about was an awesome experience."

    "The Hi-Line" takes place one long, boring Montana winter. Cook plays Vera Johnson, a twenty-year-old girl still living with her parents and dreaming of big adventures. Alosio stars as Sam Polvino, a small-time con who arrives in town posing as a representative for an employment agency. In reality, he is a friend of Vera's incarcerated father who wants a photo of her before he dies. When Vera discovers that she was adopted, she sets off on a quest to find her birth mother and her past.

    Cook, a native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, said she enjoyed shooting on location in Montana despite the frigid weather. "Very, very cold but otherwise very good," she said. "It's a wonderful little town, Livingston, Montana. And we had a great time. Everyone was very hospitable."

    With her expressive dark eyes and heart-shaped face, the 19-year-old Cook seems a more innocent version of screen vamp Christina Ricci. Like Ricci, Cook also got her start as a child actress, appearing in "The Baby-Sitters' Club" and "Tom and Huck." She also had small roles in "Living Out Loud" and "The House of Yes" before finding her big break in the Miramax teen comedy "She's All That."

    "We open up on Friday, and I can't wait to see how it does," she said. "It's a good film. I can only hope from here on in. Work's done, we'll see, you know."

    Meanwhile, Cook and Alosio have been attending the film festival together. Although Cook visited for two days two years ago to promote "The House of Yes," this year she returns to promote her own film with a starring role. The non-stop rounds of publicity and parties leaves some time for the true reason of the festival.

    "Yeah, we've been to a couple," she said. "All of the films have really got something different going on, something unique. The independent spirit is very much alive out here. It's a good place to be."