Charlie St. Cloud is a small-town hero and an accomplished sailor who has it all: the adoration of his mother and younger brother and a Stanford scholarship. His bright future is cut short when tragedy strikes and takes his dreams with it. Now Charlie is torn between honoring a promise he made years ago and pursuing his newfound love with a former high school classmate.

A young woman returns home to reunite with her estranged family after the bizarre death of her brother. With family secrets, old flames, small-town gossip and an uncomfortable family reunion looming, she must find a way to navigate and accept her past while preserving her present.