THE SUMMARY

Plot
A young woman (Julianne Hough) leaves her house after being shown in possession of a
bloody knife. She is shown moments later buying a bus ticket, her hair now cropped and
bleached, and stops at the small town of Southport, North Carolina. At the general store, she
introduces herself as Katie. After acquiring a job as a waitress and renting a small house on
the edge of town, Katie befriends her neighbor, Jo (Cobie Smulders) and meets Alex
Wheatley (Josh Duhamel), the manager of a local convenience store, and his two children,
Lexie (Mimi Kirkland) and Josh. Alex's wife died of cancer a few years prior.
Alex immediately takes a liking to Katie, doing small helpful things, such as leaving an old
bike at her house. They go on a 'family' trip to the beach, and Alex asks her to go canoeing
with him, after which, they fell in love with each other. Lexie immediately accepts Katie,
while Josh is initially resistant, believing Katie to be his late mother's replacement, but
eventually accepts her as well. Meanwhile, Kevin Tierney, a Boston police officer, searches
for Katie and, using his authority as a police officer, sends out reports saying that she is a
wanted murderer. Upon seeing her picture in the police station, Alex confronts Katie and
becomes angry that she didn't trust him enough to even tell him her real name, Erin. The
picture flashes to Kevin's boss confronting him at work, pointing out he always carries a
water bottle that turns out to be filled with vodka, and reveals that Erin was Kevin's wife.
Directly afterward, Katie is shown packing while talking angrily with Jo. Alex drives over to
Katie's house to talk to her, only to discover that she left. He drives to the nearest ferry dock
and admits he's fallen in love with her and promises to protect her no matter what. Initially,
Katie wants to flee but then she decides to stay in Southport and she and Alex help prepare
the town for the upcoming Fourth of July celebration. Later, Katie tells Alex that Kevin is her
husband, whom she stabbed with a kitchen knife in order to protect herself from his drunken
assault. Meanwhile, Kevin breaks into Katie's former neighbor`s home back in Boston and
finds the phone number to the Southport restaurant that employs Katie. He finds the location
and makes his way there, very noticeably drunk. Arriving just on time for the Fourth of July
parade, Kevin begins his search for Katie through the crowd, belligerent. He finally finds
Katie dancing with Lexie and watches as Alex leans over to kiss her, which makes him angry.

Later, Katie has a dream that she is standing on the docks watching the fireworks when Jo
comes up and tells Katie that "he" is here.
Katie wakes up in the convenience store next to a fast asleep Lexie. While she is walking
around in the store, Kevin makes his appearance and confronts her, drunk and sobbing and
asking her to talk. He asks her to go back home with him, but she refuses and tells him to
leave. He pulls out a revolver while Katie asks Lexie to stay up in the second floor of the
store, scared that she might see Kevin and become frightened. Meanwhile, Kevin is pouring
gasoline all over the store, with the intent to burn it down. He sits down on the steps with a
lighter, deep in thought, and Katie fakes sympathy for him and agrees to return home with
him, only to push him into the water by surprise. However, a firework spark lands on the
gasoline, igniting a fire that spreads all over the store.
Alex, busy shooting off fireworks, sees the burning store and quickly makes his way across
the lake by boat. He stands on the dock, pleading with Lexie to jump into his arms. After a
brief hesitation, she finally does. Meanwhile, Katie is wrestling with a soaked Kevin who is
attempting to shoot her. After a long struggle on the ground with Kevin holding the gun and
Katie desperately trying to keep him from pointing it at her head, she makes one last
desperate grab at the gun and it goes off, killing Kevin. Soon after, Alex finds Katie and they
embrace.
In the aftermath, Alex rifles through a desk, whose contents were spared from the fire,
belonging to his late wife, where he finds multiple letters she prepared ahead of time for
memorable events such as Josh's eighteenth birthday and Lexie's wedding day. Alex gives
Katie a letter with the words "To Her" on the envelope. The letter talks about how if someone
is receiving this letter, then Alex loves her without a shadow of a doubt. She says she is
thankful for whoever is now reading the letter and thanks the reader for making Alex feel
young and in love again. The movie ends by revealing that Jo, who had supposedly left town
moments before, was actually the ghost of Alex's late wife.

THE CHRACTERS
Katie/Erin The main character in the book. She starts as a beautiful woman with a long
blonde hair and the perfect body that lives with her abusive husband named Kevin. Erin
finally leaves him making her way to the quaint little town of Southport, North Carolina.
With a new identity as Katie, she rents a little beat up cottage for the time being. Little does
she know but she soon meet a man named Alex with two kids who she falls madly in love
with. She also meets a woman named Jo who moves in next door and becomes her truest best
friend.
Alex The owner of the town grocery store who is a single father of two kids because his
wife Carly died. He meets Katie and falls in love with her not just because of her eye
catching beauty but because of how she interacts and behaves toward his children. Alex also
risks his life to save Katie when her abusive, drunk husband come to tow to take Katie with
him.
Jo/ Carly Jo is a woman who moves in next to Katie and becomes Katie`s truest friend in
town. They talk over coffee and wine and Katie enjoys spending time with Jo. Little does
Katie know but that Jo is actually Carly who is Alex`s deceased wife. She is a spirit or
figment of imagination that is in Katie`s life to help her find Alex because Carly only wants
the best for her husband and children. She knows that Alex has fallen in love with Katie and
Katie needs Alex and his children in her life as well.
Kevin - Katie`s husband who is a police detective for Boston. After Katie leaves him
because of his abusive ways. Kevin feels he cannot live without her and no one else should
have her if he doesn`t. Kevin uses his detective skills and resources to track her down and try
to set a building on fire that she is in. He also in an intense brawl with Alex until Katie
intervenes ending the problem forever.

Kristen- Alex's daughter who builds a bond with Katie early on in the book as she colors
pictures for her and plays dolls with her. Kristen also goes to Katie when she needs to be
comforted.
Josh- Alex's son who enjoys spending a lot of time outdoors and who develops a connection
with Katie.

SETTINGS OF SAFE HAVEN

Ivan's
Ivan's is the restaurant where Katie works with Melody and Ricky. Katie waitresses at the
restaurant, which has been around for 30 years. Along with tourists, Ivan's also draws a
crowd of regular customers. When Kevin tracks Erin to Southport, he also figures out that
she works at Ivan's as Katie.
Southport
Southport is the small town where Katie lives. Southport is an historic town with a
population of only a couple thousand people. Southport sits where the Cape Fear River meets
the Intracoastal.
Katie's Cottage
Katie rents a small cottage in Southport. The rent includes the cottage furnishings. The
cottage sits at the end of a gravel road, with another identical cottage nearby. The two
cottages are former hunting cabins that are up against a wooded area. Katie rents the cottage
because it is out of the way, the rent is inexpensive and she didn't have to...

AUTHORS BIOGRAPHY

Nicholas Charles Sparks was born on December 31, 1965, in Omaha, Nebraska, to Patrick
Michael Sparks, a professor of business, and Jill Emma Marie Sparks (ne Thoene),
a homemaker and an optometrist's assistant. He was the middle of three children, with an
older brother, Michael Earl "Micah" Sparks (1964) and a younger sister, Danielle "Dana"
Sparks (19662000), who died at the age of 33 from a brain tumor. Sparks has said that she is
the inspiration for the main character in his novel A Walk to Remember.
Sparks was raised Roman Catholic,[1] and is of German, Czech, English,
and Irishancestry. He and his wife are Catholics and are raising their children in the Catholic
faith.[citation needed]
His father was pursuing graduate studies at University of Minnesota andUniversity of
Southern California, and the family moved a great deal, so by the time Sparks was eight, he
had lived in Watertown, Minnesota, Inglewood, California, Playa del Rey, California,
and Grand Island, Nebraska which was his mother's hometown during his parents' one
year separation. In 1974 his father became a professor of business at California State
University, Sacramento teaching behavioral theory and management. His family settled
in Fair Oaks, California, and remained there through Nicholas's high school days. He
graduated in 1984 as valedictorian from Bella Vista High School, then enrolling at
the University of Notre Dame, having received a full track and field scholarship. In his
freshman year, his team set a record for the 4 x 800 relay.[3]Sparks majored in business
finance and graduated with honors in 1988. He also met his future wife that year, Cathy Cote
fromNew Hampshire, while they were both on spring break. They married on July 22, 1989
and moved to New Bern, North Carolina.[4]

THEMES IN SAFE HAVEN

One of the primary themes running through the novel is relationships. The two primary types
of relationships the novel covers are friendships and romantic relationships. Additionally, the
novel covers family relationships.
Friendship is the first type of relationship the novel tackles. It seems as if Katie doesn't have
many friends because she has just moved to Southport. Additionally, since she is trying to
hide from her husband, Katie is also keeping a low profile, which inhibits her from making
many friends. This changes, however, when Jo moves into the cottage next door to Katie. For
the first time since she got married, Katie finds a true friendship with Jo. They talk, share
bottles of wine, give each other advice and help each other. In the end, however, it turns out
that Jo wasn't real, but either an illusion or the spirit of Carly.
.