Seventeen-year-old Ronnie Miller's world is turned topsy- turvy when her parents divorce. Being spiteful, for three years she's ignored her father Steve. Now Ronnie and her brother, Jonah, are reluctantly going to spend the summer with him in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Once a warm, beautiful young lady who was a brilliant pianist and composer, Ronnie is now on the dark side with a colored streak in her hair and resistance in her soul. And she has not touched the piano since the divorce.

Arriving at the beach, Ronnie befriends the wrong kids and opposes every overture her father makes. Life begins to take on a new shade when she meets Will Blakelee. Facing shoplifting charges in New York and framed again in North Carolina by Blaze, her new friend, Ronnie faces serious charges. Then she learns devastating news that changes her life. She begins to question her true path in life, as well as her belief in God, as she strives to atone for the wrongs she has committed.

As usual, Nicholas Sparks has written a heartbreaking story of misunderstanding and denied love. Ronnie is a brilliant pianist with a bright future but willing to throw it all away until the real truth for the visit with her father comes to light. It broke my heart to see Ronnie's inability to change the future and rescind all the things she now regrets. This story is so full of emotion that you can't help but live it all through Ronnie's eyes. You will long remember this heart-wrenching story and keep the Kleenex handy.