The Lake House (2006)

The film The Lake House (2006) is a fantasy romance directed by Alejandro Agresti, with David Auburn as the writer. That same year, Kate Forster, a doctor, leaves her rental lake house near Chicago and begins working at a downtown hospital. In order to make sure her mail gets forwarded, she leaves a note in the mailbox. She also mentions the pawprints on the front walkway and a box in the attic that were there when she moved in. Two years prior, architect Alex Wyler moves into the same lake house and discovers Kate’s letter. Confused, he realizes there are no pawprints but later befriends a dog who runs through paint and creates said prints. He responds using the mailbox and asks how she knew about them if no one had lived in the house before him. It’s then that he notices the letters are dated 2006.

While having lunch in Daley Plaza on Valentine’s Day, 2006, Kate is a witness to a man being hit by a car. Despite her attempts to save him, she is unable to do so and feels depressed. Upon returning to the lake house, she discovers a letter from Alex, with whom she regularly exchanges letters using the mailbox’s red flag as a signal. Through their correspondence, they learn that they are living two years apart but can communicate almost instantly through the mailbox. In one of their messages, Kate asks Alex to retrieve a copy of Jane Austen’s Persuasion that she had left at a train station. He manages to find it and also takes her on a tour of his favorite architectural sites in Chicago. They eventually meet at Kate’s birthday party hosted by her then-boyfriend Morgan, who is an attorney.