The Wool Cap is a 2004 American television comedy-drama film directed by Steven Schachter, who wrote the teleplay with William H. Macy.

In the film, Charlie Gigot, a mute and alcoholic superintendent of a dilapidated New York City apartment building becomes the unwilling parent figure for Lou, a young girl temporarily left in his care by a woman who fails to return for her.

It stars Macy as Charlie and Keke Palmer as Lou, with Don Rickles, Ned Beatty, Cherise Boothe, Julito McCullum, and Catherine O'Hara in supporting roles.

Things become even more complicated, however, when he is robbed at a diner and is forced to perform a sideshow featuring Grace and Lou to raise enough money for the bus tickets.

Her grief prompts Gigot to seek out a friend named Clarence who served with him in Vietnam and has since become a foster parent for multiple children without homes.

Clarence and his wife, Bess, however, announce that they are retired, leaving Gigot with no other choice but to become a foster parent himself after Child Protective Services arrives to claim Lou.

Hoping that they will officially adopt Lou so that he may take care of her, Gigot pays them a visit and is shocked to learn that his mother died years ago and his father has since remarried.

The titular wool cap, which he wears throughout the film, belonged to his younger sister who died in a car accident while Gigot was at the wheel, drunk and high.

Depressed and utterly forlorn, Gigot attempts to start afresh on Christmas Day by letting go of the past (symbolized by throwing his sister's wool cap into a river) and visiting a church, where he breaks down crying.