Dear John (2010) on Netflix

Plot summary

Staff Sergeant John Tyree serves in the Army Special Forces and is stationed in Germany. He comes home to Charleston, South Carolina, for a summer leave and stays with his widowed father, whose days revolve around a growing coin collection. One day he dives off a pier to retrieve a purse and meets Savannah Curtis, who is spending her spring break building houses with Habitat for Humanity. She invites him to a bonfire, where he gets to know her neighbor Tim and Tim's autistic son, Alan. The two spend the rest of his leave together and fall in love, and Savannah suggests that his father may share traits with Alan. John intends to leave the Army, but the September 11 attacks lead him to extend his service, and the couple agree to keep writing.