"Life is not a book, Alex. It can be over in a second." - Kate


Plot

In 2006, Dr. Kate Forster is leaving a lake house that she has been
renting in suburban Wisconsin to
move to Chicago . Kate leaves a note in the mailbox for the next
tenant to forward her letters should
some slip through the system, further adding that the paint-embedded
pawprints on the walkway
leading into the house were already there when she arrived.
Two years earlier, in 2004, Alex Wyler, an architect , arrives at the
lake house and finds Kate's letter in
the mailbox. The house is neglected, with no sign of pawprints
anywhere. As Alex restores the house,
a dog runs through his paint and leaves fresh pawprints right where
Kate said they would be. Both Alexp
and Kate continue passing messages to each other via the mailbox, and
each watch its flag go up and
down as the message leaves and the reply arrives, which takes place as
they wait at the mailbox. They
cautiously look around each time the flag changes, hoping to somehow
spot the other, but in vain they
do not, as they are alone at the mailbox.
Baffled, Alex writes back, asking how Kate knew about the pawprints
since the house was unoccupied
before he arrived. An equally perplexed Kate writes back, and she and
Alex discover that they are living
exactly two years apart. Their correspondence takes them through
several events, including Alex
finding a book, Persuasion , at a train station where Kate said she
had lost l, and Alex taking Kate on
a walking tour of his favorite places in Chicago via an annotated map
that he leaves in the mailbox.
Alex and Kate eventually meet at a party, but he doesn't mention their
letter relationship to her as for
her, it hasn't happened yet.
As Alex and Kate continue to write each other, they decide to try to
meet again. Alex makes a
reservation at Il Mare (Italian for "The Sea"), a restaurant whose
name is a homage to the original
Korean motion picture, for around March 2007 — two years in Alex's
future, but only a day away for
Kate. Kate goes to the restaurant but Alex fails to show. Heartbroken,
Kate asks Alex not to write her
again, recounting a tragedy a year ago before, on Valentine's Day
2006, when she witnessed a traffic
accident near Daley Plaza and held a man who died in her arms. Both
Alex and Kate leave the lake
house, continuing on with their separate lives.
A year later, on Valentine's Day 2006 for Alex, Valentine's Day 2008
for Kate, Alex returns to the lake
house after something about the day triggers his memory. Meanwhile,
Kate goes to an architect to
review renovation plans for a house she wants to buy. She notices a
drawing of the lake house on the
conference room wall and learns that Alex Wyler — the same person with
whom she'd been
corresponding — had drawn it. She also learns that Alex was killed in
a traffic accident exactly two
years ago to the day and realizes why he never showed up for their
date; he was the man who died in
Daley Plaza.
Rushing to the lake house, Kate writes a letter telling Alex she loves
him, but begs him not to try to
find her if he loves her back. Wait two years, she says, and come to
the lake house instead. Meanwhile
Alex has gone to Daley Plaza to find Kate.
At the lake house, Kate sobs, clutching onto the mailbox stand, sure
she was too late, but then the
mailbox flag lowers; Alex has picked up her note. Soon, she sees a
vehicle arriving and then a figure
walking toward her. It is Alex. They walk toward each other. Kate
says, "You waited!" She and Alex
kiss, then walk toward the lake house.