A rather nice romantic story, I found it better than the critics suggest.

Rating: Null/10 (22 June 2010)

The story is set in 2001 and the years immediately following. The year is important because the event of 9-11-2001, the destruction of NYC's twin towers by terrorists, becomes the big event that deflects an otherwise simple relationship story. Set in Charleston, South Carolina and surrounding areas.
Channing Tatum is John Tyree, Army Special Ops, and we meet him as he lies wounded in Afghanistan. But the story then quickly flashes back to 2001, in the summer when he was 21. The handbag of a very cute girl accidentally gets knocked off a pier and into the water, and while one suitor goes towards the shore to try to retrieve the bag the easy way, John jumps directly into the water to get the bag. He becomes the girl's instant hero.
The girl is pretty Amanda Seyfried as Savannah Curtis. She will soon be starting her final year of college. While John is on two weeks' leave they fall into, as Ebert says, "PG-13 Love." (Roger Ebert gives this movie a low rating, but to me it is better than that.)
John is to finish out his remaining year of duty, while Savannah finishes out her remaining year of college, they will reunite then live happily ever after. That was their plan, until the 9-11 event. But then everything changes.
The other key characters are Richard Jenkins as Mr. Tyree, quiet, shy, methodical, and consumed by his coin collection, which is extensive.
Henry Thomas (of 'E.T.' fame) is Tim Wheddon, local friend of Savannah's family, with a small autistic son.
Good movie, examines the realities of life and how major events can cause plans to be scrapped.
MAJOR SPOILERS: After 9-11 John re-ups along with his squad, he and Savannah keep in touch by letters, until he fails to hear from her for weeks. When he finally does she tells him she can't wait anymore and is engaged. He eventually finds out it is Tim that she marries, but now Tim has cancer and money has run out. Also John's dad dies. Anonymously, John sells the coin collection and donates the money to Tim's cause. In the end, much later, we see Savannah in a café and John outside, they see each other, she goes outside and embrace. The ending isn't explained, but one possibility is they eventually got together after Tim died.