In January 2003, Nicholas Sparks and his brother Micah set off on a three week trip around the world. It was to mark a milestone in their lives, for at 37 and 38 respectively, they were now the only surviving members of their family. Against the backdrop of the wonders of the world, the Sparks brothers band together to heal, to remember, and to learn to live life to the fullest.

A soldier in Iraq unwittingly evades the path of a falling bomb when he stops to look at a photograph on the ground, leading him on a search for the woman whose picture saved his life when he returns home.

A soldier on leave meets and falls in love with a college student, but when they are separated because of his service their relationship is tested by the distance between them.

Each at a turning point in their lives, a man and woman meet by chance at an inn in a small, coastal North Carolina town.