Sweeping romance directed by Nick Cassavetes, set in a small coastal town in the American South - partly in the 1940s, and partly in the present day. In the present day scenes, an elderly man (James Garner) reads from a faded notebook to an old woman (Gena Rowlands) whom he regularly visits at her nursing home. As he reads, a passionate love story unfolds about a young couple - Noah Calhoun and Allie Hamilton (played in flashback scenes by Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams) - whose fledgling love affair was abruptly ended by circumstances and the sudden outbreak of World War 2. But although fate drives the young couple apart, they continue to be haunted by memories of their affair, and when Noah returns from the war seven years later, he realises that he cannot forget the promises they made to one other - despite the fact that Allie is engaged to be married to another man.