Is “The Notebook” based on a true story? Here’s the real-life inspiration for Noah and Allie

Adapted from Nicholas Sparks’ first novel, the enduring love story at the heart of the Nick Cassavetes film was inspired by a real couple.

Picture it: A dreamy white house with a big ole wraparound porch; dozens of swans in a picturesque rainstorm; and, stealing our hearts under that same downpour, one of the steamiest movie kisses of this century. Directed by Nick Cassavetes, written by Jeremy Leven and Jan Sardi, and adapted from the 1996 Nicholas Sparks novel of the same name, 2004’s The Notebook gave us an immortal melodrama in the story of Allie and Noah, a Southern couple whose devotion to each other stands the test of time across multiple decades in sickness and in health.

If The Notebook hasn’t aged a day since its release, that’s partially because Cassavetes’ passionate big-screen affair is rooted in a real, timeless love story. Here’s everything to know about the inspiration behind the modern classic that made over $118 million worldwide. So if you’ve never seen this cinematic staple before, come back after addressing your romance genre blind-spot pronto.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Notebook.

What is The Notebook about?

The tale follows the aforementioned lovebirds, Allie and Noah, played by a sprightly Rachel McAdams and a heart-throbbing Ryan Gosling in the 1940s, and the iconic duo Gena Rowlands and the late James Garner in the early aughts. Well, you’re not supposed to know at first that Rowlands and Garner are the same couple as McAdams and Gosling, aged more than half a century. But that connection is the whole point and the big reveal of The Notebook, a gradual tearjerker that is essentially about enduring love against the odds.

We first meet Allie and Noah at a seniors’ facility in the modern world, with Noah gently and patiently reading a story to the old Allie, who is struggling with dementia and an increasing distance from her own memories with Noah. In gorgeous flashbacks costumed and designed to swooning perfection, we follow the two smitten kids across the class divide in South Carolina’s Seabrook Island, with Allie being the teenaged daughter of a rich family, and Noah the carpenter son of a hardworking blue-collar dad (Sam Shepard).

That affair is the very story that the old Noah reads to the ailing Allie, recounting how they’d met one lively summer night, how they’d fallen in love almost instantly, and how disapproving Allie’s affluent mom (Joan Allen) had been, calling Noah, “Trash, trash, trash!” Yet despite her mother hiding Noah’s 365 letters to Allie, her dashing suitor Lon (James Marsden) who almost got in the way, and Noah fighting in WWII, the duo never forgot about each other. In fact, they desired one another so desperately that no force could prevent their rekindled romance and eventual marital bliss later on.

Related: The Notebook director wants to apologize for saying Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling didn't get along on set

Who is the real couple Nicholas Sparks based The Notebook on?

This was Sparks’ first book and according to the author’s website, “It wasn’t easy to come up with the plot.” But Sparks knew he could do it, partly because he had met his then-wife Cathy’s grandparents, a couple still so faithfully in love after 60 years. Cathy cared for them and visited them regularly over the years. But despite how close she was to them, her grandparents couldn’t be involved in her wedding to Sparks due to their poor health. Though Cathy went through the wedding as planned, she still couldn’t make peace with the fact that they weren’t in attendance on her special day. Sparks wrote, “In the back of the church was a small table and on the table was a box that had been brought by the florist. It contained the corsages and boutonnieres for the wedding party and our parents, but as [Cathy] was standing there, she couldn’t help but notice there were two flowers left untouched — those that had been meant for the grandparents.”

The next day, Cathy asked him whether he loved her. “Of course I do,” was his response. “Well good. Then you’re going to do something for me,” Cathy replied back. That something was a heart-swelling task. The newlyweds got into their wedding garments again, took the unclaimed flowers and leftover cake with them, and visited Cathy’s grandparents. The old couple had no idea that they were coming and were elated by the turn of events. As they watched the wedding video and ate cake, they shared their own love story with Nicholas and Cathy. “What I most remember from that day is the way they were treating each other,” he wrote. “The way his eyes shined when he looked at her, the way he held her hand, the way he got her tea and took care of her. I remember watching them together and thinking to myself that after sixty years of marriage, these two people were treating each other exactly the same as my wife and I were treating each other after 12 hours. What a wonderful gift they’d given us, I thought, to show us on our first day of marriage that true love can last forever.”

Related: The Notebook star Gena Rowlands has Alzheimer's

How much of the romance is truthful to the real story?

Here are the things we do know about The Notebook. The blue-eyed Gosling wore contact lenses to match Garner’s brown eye color. He took some carpentry lessons to look believable in the film. And those pretty swans? They were all raised on location. But no one actually knows how much of the romance came straight from Cathy’s grandparents, as Sparks never confirmed which parts of The Notebook were based on truth or fiction. But he did say, “Parts of [the real story] eventually made their way into The Notebook.” In the end, it sounds like what was more important to Sparks was capturing the quality and dedication of the real couple’s relationship, as opposed to its beat-by-beat facts.

That touching authenticity is probably why The Notebook was a success for the then-pharmaceutical salesman who was making his third shot at writing his first novel. In a 2014 interview on The Meredith Vieira Show, Sparks said that after months of working on the book, he reached out to an agent with a draft and received an almost immediate response. The rest is history, as they say, is history.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.