Storyline:
The movie focuses on an old man reading a story to an old woman in a nursing home. The story he reads follows two young lovers named Allie Hamilton and Noah Calhoun, who meet one evening at a carnival. But they are separated by Allie's parents who dissaprove of Noah's unwealthy family, and move Allie away. After waiting for Noah to write her for several years, Allie meets and gets engaged to a handsome young soldier named Lon. Allie, then, with her love for Noah still alive, stops by Noah's 200-year-old home that he restored for her, "to see if he's okay". It is evident that they still have feelings for each other, and Allie has to choose between her fiancé and her first love.
Cast overview
Tim Ivey ...
Rower
Gena Rowlands ...
Allie Calhoun
Starletta DuPois ...
Nurse Esther
James Garner ...
Duke
Young Noah: What am I gonna do in New York?
Young Allie: ...Be with me.
Young Noah: Get in the water.
Young Allie: No! I'm scared.
Young Noah: [yelling] Get in the water, woman! Get in the water!
Young Allie: [looks at him, puzzled]
Young Noah: [calmly] No I'm sorry baby, please just get in.
Young Allie: [hesitates]
Young Noah: [once his friends start yelling again] GET IN THE WATER!
Young Noah: You don't know me, but I know me.
Young Allie: When I'm with Noah I feel like one person and when I'm with you I feel like someone totally different.
Lon: Allie, it's normal not to forget your first love but I want you for myself. I don't want to convince my fiancée that she should be with me.
Young Allie: You don't have to. I already know I should be with you.
Fin: [after Noah and Allie kept saying 'You look great.']
[to Allie]
Fin: You look great.
[to Noah]
Fin: You look great. And I know I look great.
Young Noah: My Dearest Allie. I couldn't sleep last night because I know that it's over between us. I'm not bitter anymore, because I know that what we had was real. And if in some distant place in the future we see each other in our new lives, I'll smile at you with joy and remember how we spent the summer beneath the trees, learning from each other and growing in love. The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds, and that's what you've given me. That's what I hope to give to you forever. I love you. I'll be seeing you. Noah
Young Noah: You wanna walk with me.
Fin: What are you guys doing? Get in!
Young Allie: Yeah.
Young Noah: We're gonna walk.
Fin: Do you guys love each other?
[Young Noah snickers]
Fin: Oh I get it, you guys do love each other!
Young Noah: Okay. Goodbye.
Frank: [Allie painted Noah a picture] Now that's a damn painting that is.
Noah: I am nothing special; just a common man with common thoughts, and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten. But in one respect I have succeeded as gloriously as anyone who's ever lived: I've loved another with all my heart and soul; and to me, this has always been enough.
Young Noah: [to Martha] You know I want to give you everything you want. But I can't. It's broken.
Young Noah: You're gonna kill me woman! I need sleep, I need food, to regain my strength!
Noah: Summer romances begin for all kinds of reasons, but when all is said and done, they have one thing in common. They're shooting stars, a spectacular moment of light in the heavens, fleeting glimpse of eternity, and in a flash they're gone.
Noah: He got the notion into his head that if he restored the old house where they had come that night, Allie would find a way to come back to him. Some called it a labor of love. Others called it something else. But in fact, Noah had gone a little mad.
Young Noah: We can just finish out the summer and see what happens then.
Young Allie: Please don't do this, you don't mean it. Oh why wait until the summer ends? Why don't you do it right now?
[pushes Noah against car]
Young Allie: Huh? C'mon. Do it! Do it!
[repeatedly pushes Noah, starts hitting Noah, Noah starts hitting himself]
Young Allie: You know what? I'm gonna do it! It's over. Okay? it's over.
Young Noah: [opens his arms for a hug] Come here.
Young Allie: Don't touch me! I hate you! I hate you!
Young Noah: OK, I'm going.
Young Allie: Why don't you just go then?
[pushes Noah in the car]
Young Allie: Get out! Leave!
[kicks Noah's car]
Young Allie: Go!... No, no, just wait a minute, we're not really breaking up are we? Come on. This is just a fight we're having and tomorrow will be like it never happend right?
[Noah drives away]
Anne: 'Cause I might know you a little better than you think. And I don't want you waking up one morning thinking if you'd known everything you might have done something different.
Duke: Southern summers are indifferent to the trials of young love. Armed with warnings and doubts, Noah and Allie gave a remarkably convincing portrayal of a boy and a girl traveling down a very long road with no regard for the consequences.
Young Noah: Stop thinking about what everyone wants, stop thinking about what I want, what your parents want! What do *you* want Allie?
Duke: I am no one special. Just a common man with common thoughts. I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but in one respect I've succeeded as gloriously as anyone who ever lived. I've loved another with all my heart and soul and for me that has always been enough.
Lon: [to Allie] The way I see it, I got three choices. One, I can shoot him. Two, I can kick the crap out of him. Or three, I leave you. Well, all that's no good. You see, 'cause none of those options get me you.
