When Noah returned from fighting in World War II, he found that Morris had left him a significant portion of the company. After heading up north in search of work at the height of the Great Depression, Noah found a job at a scrap yard owned by the kindly Morris Goldman, a man who took a shine to Noah. As Allie bathes, dresses, and gathers her courage to head out to visit Noah, the narrative switches back to Noah’s point of view as he reflects on the years since Allie’s departure from New Bern. Allie has come to New Bern under the guise of going antiquing. Allie has recently read a newspaper article about Noah’s renovated house and, in the weeks since, has been unable to think of anything else-even though her wedding to Lon is just weeks away. The following morning, Allie arrives in New Bern from Raleigh to visit Noah-and to tell him about her engagement to the wealthy lawyer Lon Hammond, Jr. Though Noah wrote Allie many letters, she never answered them, and he has not heard from her or seen her since. At the end of the summer, after losing their virginities to each other, Noah and Allie parted ways. But all the while, Noah pines for a lost love: in 1932, he shared an intense, romantic summer with a young woman named Allie Nelson whose family came to visit New Bern for several months. Noah is a simple man who spends his days kayaking, reading poetry, and playing guitar with his neighbor Gus. Noah is proud of the work he’s done on the old plantation house-a few weeks ago, a reporter even came to interview him about it and take pictures. As dusk falls, Noah sits on the porch of his sprawling home in New Bern, North Carolina. The story flashes back to October of 1946. Noah is hopeful that today will be the day a miracle happens. Noah wanders down the cold halls of the nursing home to visit the room of another patient-a woman-who barely acknowledges him as he sits down beside her, opens up a small notebook, and begins to read to her.
Noah knows that he has lived an ordinary life by most people’s standards, but he insists that having known “perfect love” has been enough for him.
Eighty-year-old Noah Calhoun, who lives in a nursing home in North Carolina, describes the lonely and sometimes painful nature of his final days.
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