The Last Song

In the present, Veronica “Ronnie” Miller reflects on the past summer. While she packs a bag, her mother, Kim Miller, encourages her to talk about her experiences. Overwhelmed by memories, Ronnie tells her mother that the summer began not with the turtles, as her mother suggested, but with a fire.

Ronnie gives Kim a newspaper article detailing a church’s destruction in a fire on New Year’s Eve, which also injured Pastor Harris. Ronnie then begins to recount the events of the summer.

The narrative flashes back to the beginning of summer. A resentful, 17-year-old Ronnie is traveling with her mother and younger brother, Jonah Miller, from New York City to spend the summer with their estranged father, Steve Miller, in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Annoyed about the forced trip, Ronnie reflects on her recent rebellious behavior, including a shoplifting arrest and her vow to stop playing the piano, an instrument she associates with her parents’ divorce. Ronnie’s father taught her to play, and after he left their family due to an affair, she stopped playing. Ronnie has not seen Steve for three years.