Nicholas Sparks

Seventeen, angry, and alienated from her estranged father, Veronica 'Ronnie' Miller's life gets turned inside out when her mother forces her to spend the summer with him in the small Georgia beach town where he lives. Here, Ronnie finds salvation, friendship, second chances, and first love.

While John, a young soldier, is home on a temporary leave, he meets and falls in love with Savannah, a college girl on her spring break. Savannah promises to write to John when he is sent overseas. Over the next seven years, the couple continues to be separated by John's increasingly dangerous deployments. Though they meet only sporadically, they continue to stay in touch through love letters that eventually bring fateful consequences.