The Best of Me (2014)

Alternating between scenes of their relationship in 1992 with their current lives separately, the film shows the story of Dawson and Amanda. Dawson Cole works on an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana. An explosion on the job nearly kills him, throwing him into the water, but miraculously he survives. Months later, after recovering, Dawson learns that his close friend and surrogate father, Tuck, has died and returns home for the first time in almost twenty years to carry out Tuck’s final wishes.

When he arrives at his house, Dawson is surprised to find that Tuck also arranged for Dawson high school girlfriend, Amanda, to join him. It seems that Tuck’s intention was that Dawson and Amanda would perhaps rekindle their former romance. However, Amanda is now married. Dawson was born into a notorious backwoods criminal family with an abusive father. In flashbacks, it is revealed that as a teenager, he left his father’s home and stayed overnight in Tuck Hostetler’s garage. Tuck, a local mechanic who had recently lost his wife, allowed Dawson to live with him and eventually considered him a son of his own.