Plot1

__**PLOT AND CAST INFORMATION**__

//NOAH CALHOUN// - [|Ryan Gosling] //ALLIE HAMILTON// - Rachel McAdams //DUKE// - James Garner //ALLIE CALHOUN// - Gena Rowlands //LON HAMMOND// - James Marsden //FIN// - Kevin Connolly //JOHN HAMILTON// - David Thornton //MARTHA SHAW// - Jamie Anne Brown //SARA TUFFINGTON// - Heather Wahlquist //FRANK CALHOUN// - Sam Shepard //ANNE HAMILTON// - Joan Allen
 * __CAST:__**


 * __CREW:__**
 * Director:** Nick Cassavetes
 * Screenwriters:** Jeremy Leven and Jan Sardi
 * Based on the Novel By:** Nicholas Sparks
 * Producers:** Mark Johnson and Lynn Harris
 * Executive Producers:** Toby Emmerich and Avram Butch Kaplan
 * Editor:** Alan Heim
 * Director of Photography:** Robert Fraisse
 * Production Designer:** Sarah Knowles
 * Costume Designer:** Karyn Wagner
 * Composer:** Aaron Zigman


 * __PLOT SUMMARY__**

Directed by Nick Cassavetes, this adaptation of author Nicholas Sparks' bestselling novel revolves around an elderly gentleman and his regular visits to a female patron of an area nursing home. Rather than bore her with the inanities of everyday life he reads from an old, faded notebook containing the sweeping account of two young teenagers Noah Calhoun and Allie Hamilton. Noah and Allie’s story begins in the summer of 1940 in the resort town of Seabrook, North Carolina. Noah Calhoun (Ryan Gosling) sees Allie Hamilton (Rachel McAdams) at the local carnival and gets a date with her. Allie is from a wealthy family and Noah is a mill worker. During that glorious summer, they fall madly in love. Allie's parents disapprove and leave Seabrook, Allie in tow. Noah writes Allie for an entire year, with no reply. Viewers later find out that Allie’s mother hid every letter he wrote to Allie. Noah joins the army when World War II begins and does not see Allie again for another 7 years.

After the war, Noah returns to Seabrook, buys an old run-down house and begins to fix it up. In the meantime, Allie has gotten engaged to Lon Hammond (James Marsden), a wealthy cotton broker. While Allie is having her wedding gown fitting, she sees a picture of Noah and his home in the paper. Allie cannot resist returning to Seabrook to see Noah before her wedding. Despite having taken radically different paths, they find themselves unable to deny the love the still feel for one another. Allie ends up having to make a choice between her true love and the love her parents and society approve of.

The film finishes with a flash forward to the present. The elderly woman who is suffering from Alzheimer’s finally remembers that she is Allie and the elderly gentleman reading to her is Noah. Allie wrote the book when she began to get sick and told Noah “read to me and I will come back to you”. Her memory lasts only momentarily however and she forgets who Noah is and her love for him. The last scene of the film shows Allie and Noah in the same bed at the nursing home. Noah has just had a heart attack and has been away for a while. Allie has been distraught during his absence. Her memory returns again at this point and she asks him if “their love is strong enough to take them away together”. Both Allie and Noah pass away together that night. The last image viewers see is a flock of white geese flying into the sunset.

This is relevant as Allie said she always wanted to be reincarnated as a bird. Noah and Allie’s love is so powerful it survives family meddling, social prejudice, war, and even death.