Daddy's Little Girls is a 2007 American film written and directed by Tyler Perry and produced by Perry and Reuben Cannon. The film stars Idris Elba, Gabrielle Union, Louis Gossett Jr., and Tracee Ellis Ross. It tells the story of a lawyer who helps a mechanic in a custody battle against his mean-spirited ex-wife over who will get custody of their daughters. Daddy's Little Girls was released on February 14, 2007 by Lions Gate Entertainment. This is the first of six films directed by Perry that he does not appear in (the other five being Acrimony, For Colored Girls, Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor, Nobody's Fool and A Jazzman's Blues) as well as the first of Perry's films to not be based on any of the filmmaker's stage plays. Plot In Edgewood, Atlanta, Monty James (Idris Elba) is a mechanic working for Willie (Louis Gossett Jr.) who dreams of owning his own shop. His three daughters, Sierra (Sierra McClain), Lauryn (Lauryn McClain), and China (China Anne McClain) have been cared for by their elderly maternal grandmother Kat (Juanita Jennings) with frequent visits from Monty along with financial support. Before her death from lung cancer, Kat asks Monty to take custody of them since her daughter/Monty's ex-wife Jennifer (Tasha Smith) has little to no interest in her daughters, having not visited them in several months prior to her mother’s death. She is preferably more involved in the business activity of her live-in boyfriend Joe (Gary Anthony Sturgis), the main drug dealer in the neighborhood who people are afraid of testifying against or else he'll have them killed. Following Kat's funeral, Jennifer arrives with Joe and his thugs upset that no one notified her of her mother’s death. Jennifer tries to physically take the girls from Monty demanding that they leave with her and Joe, but her aunt Rita (Cassi Davis) steps in and stops her. She leaves, but informs Monty that she intends to seek full custody of the girls. In an effort to earn extra money, Monty accepts a job as a driver for Julia Rossmore (Gabrielle Union), an attorney, at the recommendation of his next-door neighbor Maya (Malinda Williams) who works as her assistant. When Monty and Julia meet, she insists they refrain from fraternizing and keeps a strict schedule. Monty has to work later than expected one night after Julia’s friends, Brenda (Terri J. Vaughn) and Cynthia