The Best of Me (2010) is a love story by the best-selling American author Nicholas Sparks. It was adapted into a feature film by the same name in 2014. The novel is about the conflict-ridden love story between Dawson Cole and Amanda Colliers, high school lovers who were separated by social circumstances. Twenty-five years later, they get together to honor the memory of Tuck Hostetler, a father-figure who was their silent supporter and well-wisher. Once the former lovers meet, the memories of their romance come to life, and they are forced to make difficult choices. The story weaves between the past and the present, invoking the power of true love to transcend time and death. The novel explores the themes of love, guilt, redemption and flawed human relationships.

Other works by this author include Dreamland, Safe Haven, and Nights in Rodanthe.

This guide references the 2011 edition by Grand Central Publishing.

Plot Summary

Dawson Cole, 42, works on an oil rig off the coast of New Orleans. He leads a solitary existence, with no social life or emotional commitments. His only contact with his hometown, Oriental, North Carolina, is through Tuck Hostetler, an aged mechanic who gave him refuge and employment when Dawson was a high-school student. Not long ago, Dawson was saved from a near-fatal explosion at the rig by a dark-haired stranger. Dawson suspects the stranger is a ghost or a hallucination, based on the strange experiences he has had. A few months after the accident, he gets a call from Oriental informing him of Tuck’s death and asking him to go to the town to carry out Tuck’s last wishes. Thus, Dawson prepares to go home for the first time in over 20 years.

During his journey, he reminisces about his past in Oriental. His family, the Coles, were notorious in town for their criminal, violent ways. Dawson was different; he stayed away from trouble and did well in school. His family, including his father, Tommy, resented him for this, and he was regularly bullied by his cousins Abee and Ted. At the age of 16, unable to bear his father’s beatings, Dawson left home and sought refuge at Tuck’s garage. Tuck, a mechanic and widower, let him stay there and paid Dawson to help in the garage. In high school, Dawson fell in love with his classmate, Amanda Collier. Amanda’s wealthy family did not approve of the relationship and threatened not to pay Amanda’s college tuition unless she broke up with Dawson. When Dawson discovered this, he asked Amanda to break up with him and go to college. Heartbroken, Amanda left Oriental and entered Duke University. Soon after, Dawson was imprisoned for involuntary manslaughter for killing Dr. David Bonner in a road accident. Even after completing his four-year prison sentence, Dawson was unable to get over the guilt of killing Dr. Bonner. Dawson started to send money anonymously to Dr. Bonner’s widow, Marilyn, and employed detectives to check on the welfare of the Bonner family.

Unbeknownst to Dawson, Tuck’s lawyer also summoned Amanda to Oriental to take care of Tuck’s last wishes. When Amanda arrives at Tuck’s house and looks around, she wonders whether she made the right life decisions after leaving Oriental. Amanda’s husband, Frank, is an alcoholic, and this has created a rift in their marriage. A few years ago, she reconnected with Tuck and got closer to him, sharing her problems with him. Tuck in turn, told her about his marriage to Clara and the cottage he built for her in Vandemere.

Dawson reaches Tuck’s shack and sees Amanda. Both of them are surprised and feel their old attraction resurface. They realize that Tuck deliberately planned for them to meet, and they wonder why. Meanwhile, Abee and Ted spot Dawson in the town and plot to kill him. The next day, Tuck’s attorney tells Amanda and Dawson that Tuck wants them to spread his ashes at his cottage in Vandemere. They are also given three sealed letters that Tuck wrote to them.

That night, Ted attempts to murder Dawson, but the stranger/apparition appears and leads Dawson away before Ted can attack. The next day, when Amanda and Dawson travel to the cottage and see its garden of wildflowers, the beauty astounds them. In his letter, Tuck narrates the powerful spiritual connection he shared with his wife, Clara. That night at the cottage, Amanda opens up to Dawson and says that she never loved her husband the way she had loved Dawson. Though Amanda is filled with desire for Dawson, she is unable to make love to him, as she is a married woman.

The next day, Amanda is guilt-stricken and tells Dawson that she cannot leave her family for him. In his letter to Dawson, Tuck advises him to not live with regret, but Dawson realizes that he can never get over Amanda. In Tuck’s letter to Amanda, he advises her to choose Dawson because he knows she is unhappy in her marriage. However, a deeply conflicted Amanda leaves Oriental and drives back to her family. In the meantime, at the Tidewater bar in Oriental, Dr. Bonner’s son, Alan, gets into trouble for flirting with Abee’s girlfriend, Candy. As Dawson is driving near that part of town—the site where his road accident took place—the stranger appears, and Dawson recognizes that it is Dr. Bonner’s ghost. The ghost leads Dawson to the bar, where he sees Alan being attacked by Ted and Abee. Dawson realizes that his redemption lies in rescuing Dr. Bonner’s son. He saves Alan, but is shot and killed by Ted.

In the meantime, Amanda’s son, Jared, has gotten into a car accident and needs an immediate heart transplant. The timing of Dawson’s death allows his heart to be donated to Jared. Amanda is informed of Dawson’s death and figures out that Jared was given Dawson’s heart. Two years later, Jared is leading a normal life, and Amanda still lives in the memory of the weekend with Dawson. She holds Jared close, listening to his heartbeats and says, “I love you.”