When is dear john set

In , in Charleston, South Carolina, John is on vacation. He meets Savannah Curtis , a college student on spring break, when he rescues her purse from the water. Over the course of two weeks, Savannah and John fall in love. Savannah meets John's father , a reclusive man who seems to be obsessed with his coin collection specifically mules , but his genuine interest draws her, to John's surprise.

Savannah mentions to John that his father, like Alan, may have high-functioning autism. This upsets John, who storms off, and then gets into a fight with Savannah's friend Randy and, in the process, accidentally punches Tim. John apologizes to Tim, leaves Savannah a note, and then they spend one last day together, parting with, "I'll see you soon then" rather than goodbye.

John and Savannah continue their relationship through letters, expecting to build a life together when he leaves the army. But the recent September 11 attacks make him reconsider the army, and he ultimately chooses to re-enlist. Over the next two years, the romance goes on, through their letters. After a time, John finds himself anxiously awaiting the next letter, but when it arrives it is a Dear John letter, informing him that she has become engaged to someone else.

John burns all of Savannah's letters. Despite being wounded and encouraged to return home, John re-enlists. After four more years and many missions, while waiting to receive orders on his unit's next deployment, John is informed that his father had a stroke.

When John arrives at the hospital he learns that his father is still alive but in grave condition. John writes a letter to his father, which he reads to him at the hospital; John's voiceover at the beginning of the film was from this letter, in which he told his father that the first thing to cross his mind after he was shot was coins, and the last thing to cross his mind before he lost consciousness was his dad, ultimately the most precious person in his life.

I was not happy with it. It was a foot drop. It wasn't that far, you know," he told Collider. They went down and saw that there was nothing under the water. It was really deep and they weren't going to let me do it for insurance reasons, and I utterly pitched a fit and they let me do it once and that's the one that's in the movie.

One key element in the story actually came from the author's real-life, with Sparks revealing in an interview that his first encounter with his now-ex-wife inspired John and Savannah's first meeting. I bumped into her in Florida and told her the next day that I was going to marry her and 20 years later here we are," he told Collider. Every day I'd go home and play. I had a violin, guitar and piano. That's my wind-down method.

I was writing the song," she said. The house John shares with his coin collecting and strangely obsessive father Richard Jenkins is on James Island. The stores where young John and his father get coins valued and where the older John eventually parts with the collection are on King Street , Charleston. Built in —29, Randolph Hall is one of the oldest college buildings still in use in the US, used mainly for administrative offices, although containing some classrooms.