Following a hurtful divorce, Theresa Osborne (Robin Wright Penn) fills her life with caring for her son, Jason, and working as a researcher at the Chicago Tribune. Since the death of his wife Catherine, Garret has lead a solitary existence, except for his relationship with his father, Dodge (Paul Newman), who attempts to wrest his son away from his grief for Catherine.

On a solitary holiday while Jason visits his father, Theresa is walking along a deserted stretch of coastline when she discovers a bottle containing a moving, passionate letter, signed simply, “G.” The letter’s poetry and heartache reach out to Theresa, prompting her to begin a search for the author that eventually leads her to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, to a sailboat builder named Garret Blake (Kevin Costner).