The Enchanter recap

An unnamed man conceals a sexual fixation on young girls behind an ordinary adult life. After noticing a twelve-year-old child in a park, he courts her sick, widowed mother, not out of love but to secure lawful access to the daughter. The mother marries him and then dies, leaving him as the girl's guardian. While taking the child away, he stops with her at a hotel and attempts to turn his long-maintained fantasy into abuse. She wakes and screams, alerting others nearby. He flees the room and, faced with discovery, kills himself by stepping into the path of a vehicle. The scheme that he imagined as patient and controlled collapses as soon as the girl recognizes the threat and calls for help.

An unnamed middle-aged man is sexually fixated on young girls but has so far maintained a respectable outward life. In a park he notices a child of about twelve and becomes obsessed with possessing her. Learning that her widowed mother is gravely ill, he begins a calculated courtship. The mother believes his interest genuine and marries him, while he treats the marriage as a route to future control of her daughter. After the mother dies, he becomes responsible for the girl and collects her for a journey. At a hotel he waits until she appears to be asleep, then approaches her with the intention of sexual abuse. She wakes and screams, drawing other people toward the room. His private fantasy gives way to the reality of a frightened child and imminent exposure. He runs outside and deliberately steps into the path of a moving vehicle, dying at once. The girl survives his attempt to isolate her.

After his wife's death, the man assumes responsibility for her daughter and collects the girl so that they can travel together. He stops at a hotel and waits until he believes she is asleep before approaching her sexually. She wakes, understands the danger, and screams. The sound brings other people toward the room and destroys the private fantasy through which he had disguised his intended abuse. The man runs from the hotel in panic. Seeing no escape from exposure, he throws himself in front of a moving vehicle and is killed. The girl survives, while his attempt to obtain control over her ends in public discovery and his death.