Plot summary

Adrienne Willis and Paul Flanner are both emotionally broken people. Adrienne is separated from her husband, Jack Willis, because of his infidelity. Their children, Amanda and Danny Willis, who live primarily with Adrienne, want their parents to get back together. Amanda, not knowing the true causes, blames the situation on her mother. Jack wants to reconcile with Adrienne, but she's not sure that she either can trust him or loves him anymore, and she doesn't want to reconcile solely for her children's sakes. Jack tries to manipulate the situation which further places a wedge between Adrienne and Amanda. Paul Flanner is a well respected surgeon who deals with his patients primarily on a clinical rather than humanistic level. One of his patients, Jill Torrelson, dies on the operating room table in what was a routine and primarily cosmetic procedure. Paul never did face Jill's husband, Robert Torrelson, directly about the matter, Robert who has filed a wrongful death suit against Paul, despite the death seemingly not being caused by anything that Paul did. Paul's approach to doctoring goes against that of his grown son, Mark Flanner, a doctor himself who is working in a remote facility in the mountains of Ecuador. Adrienne and Paul meet when Paul travels to Rodanthe, off the coast of North Carolina, and is the only current guest at the inn which Adrienne is managing temporarily for her best friend Jean, who is taking some personal time away. Paul's trip to Rodanthe was on the request of Robert to meet, Rodanthe where the Torrelsons live. Adrienne and Paul end up fulfilling much that is missing in the other's life. Regardless of if there is a long term future for Adrienne and Paul together, their encounter at least re-energizes their lives and helps them deal with the current issues which they are facing.—Huggo