Tears when leading character in romance dies (5)
I believe the answer is:
rends
'tears' is the definition.
(rending is a kind of tearing)
'leading character in romance dies' is the wordplay.
'leading' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'character' becomes 'r'.
'in romance dies' becomes 'ends' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'r' next to 'ends' is 'RENDS'.
'when' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for rends that I've seen before include "Tears asunder" , "Tears apart" .)