Jake shows up and explains how he told the dog that her disappearance was his fault and they end up talking about why the marriage did not work, the baby they lost, and why she left. That night, she goes to the cemetery to tell her old coon dog Bear good bye. Melanie learns that Jake had once gone to New York City to try to find her, because he still loved her. When she wakes up the next morning, the divorce papers are laying on her bed signed by Jake. Jake becomes angry with her and takes her home. Jake refuses to divorce her until one night she gets drunk and explains to everyone in the bar that the reason she married Jake was because she was pregnant, and she later had a miscarriage. She has not told Andrew that she is still married. Her private reason is to demand a divorce from Jake. When she becomes engaged to Andrew, the son of the mayor of New York City, Melanie announces that she has to go back home alone to Alabama to tell her parents in person. Then it goes to present day with Melanie now a successful fashion designer in New York City. The film starts at a beach in Alabama during a thunderstorm with two children chasing each other (10 yr old Melanie and Jake) who kiss but get struck by lightning. The story is a love triangle involving two childhood Alabama sweethearts who married but became estranged, Jake Perry and Melanie Smooter (Lucas and Witherspoon), and Melanie's boyfriend of 8 months, Andrew Hennings (Dempsey).

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