Synopsis

At seventeen, Veronica "Ronnie" Miller (Miley Cyrus) remains as rebellious and distant as she was the day after her parents' ugly divorce and father's subsequent relocation to Georgia three years ago. Once a classical piano prodigy  under the tutelage of her father, Steve Miller (Greg Kinnear), Ronnie now rejects the instrument and has not spoken to her father since he left. While Juilliard School has been interested in her since she was young, Ronnie refuses to attend.

Now, Steve is given the chance to reconnect with his estranged daughter when her mother, Kim (Kelly Preston) sends the rebellious teen and her younger brother, Jonah (Bobby Coleman), to spend the summer with him. Steve, a former Juilliard School professor and concert pianist, now lives a quiet life in Tybee Island, the small Georgia beach town where he grew up, working on a stained glass window for the local church to replace the one the church lost in a fire.

Upon arrival, Ronnie is miserable, hostile and defensive toward all those around her, including handsome, popular Will Blakelee (Liam Hemsworth) - until, after both she and Will become involved in protecting a Loggerhead Sea Turtle nest, she discovers he is deeper than she believed. As Ronnie falls in love with Will, she also manages to bond with her father Steve through the one thing they have in common- music.