 A thirteen @-@ year @-@ old girl , Maria Jackson ( Yasmin Paige ) , and her recently divorced father Alan ( Joseph Millson ) move into a house opposite journalist and former time @-@ traveller Sarah Jane Smith ( Elisabeth Sladen ) . The night after they have moved in , Maria is woken by an ethereal light emanating from Sarah Jane 's house , which she discovers , to her horrified fascination , to be Sarah Jane conversing with a star poet , or <unk> . 
