If you have not seen “The Lake House”, I think I would recommend it. I say that I think I would because, although I didn’t see the entire movie, I saw a specific part that made me believe it could be one worth renting. Here’s what I’ve been able to put together, much in thanks to IMDB www.imdb.com – a wealth of information for almost any movie ever made:


On Valentines Day 2006, Kate (a doctor in Chicago) escapes to a lake house after a man dies in her arms from injuries sustained when he was hit by a bus. She somehow starts writing to and receiving letters from Alex (an up and coming architect). The two eventually realize they are communicating 2 years apart, with only the mailbox to connect them.

Determined to bridge the distance and unravel the mystery behind their extraordinary connection, they tempt fate by arranging to meet. Alex makes a reservation in 2004 for a date in 2006, but only Kate appears. Hurt and confused Kate retreats, believing she will never have happiness until she lets this relationship end. She writes Alex a letter urging him to move on, too. She tells him about her Valentine's Day experience and how it made her realize how important it is to live today because tomorrow is never a promise. She confesses that she needs to live her own life, outside the shadow of this incredible relationship that, seemingly, can never be. She asks Alex not to contact her again.

On Valentines Day 2008, Kate visits an architect’s office to talk about renovations to an apartment she is planning to purchase. Kate notices a beautiful drawing of the lake house where she and Alex “met” and asks who did it. She finds out that the architect she has hired is Alex’s brother and that Alex is dead. Kate quickly realizes why Alex never met her at the restaurant: he was the man who died in her arms. She rushes to the lake house and frantically writes a note for Alex. Don't go looking for her, she begs him. Wait for another two years and come to the lake house, instead. She puts the note into the mailbox and raises the flag.

But Alex has gone off to find her - and sees her sitting there in Daley Plaza on that unseasonably mild Valentine's Day in 2006. As he is about to step into the street, he raises his hand and rereads the note from Kate, begging him to wait for her. Alex wisely decides to remain on the sidewalk, splitting himself off from the original timeline.

Kate kneels by the mailbox, crying. Soon she sees a vehicle arriving beyond the high grass and then a figure walking toward her on the gravel path, and it turns out to be Alex. "You waited!", she cries as they begin to kiss each other.

It made me wonder how many times I wanted something outside my time - relationships, jobs, material things, opportunities - perhaps that could have all been better had I waited. I wonder how many buses I let stop what could have been something really spectacular.