Alternate version:
A con artist hustles a family into spending Christmas with him, but his masquerade is threatened when his real family moves in next door.
Intention: to live a real life.
obstacle: his real life.
I thought I?d try this out.
I?m trying to put more conflict into the original idea. (Otherwise I might keep the original longline and have his ex wife as a complication/obstacle.)
Perhaps it begins with him trying to get back into the lives of his ex wife and daughter. They ignore him.
He finds this surrogate family – all whilst pretending to be someone else. Then his real family moves in next door. Perhaps the new man is a cop (who is onto him?)
Perhaps he begs his ex wife to join in on the charade. And then one lie leads to another…