The Last Song

Main characters:

Ronnie Miller is the daughter of Steve and Kim Miller. When Ronnie was younger, she began to play the piano and quickly proved to be something of a prodigy. Ronnie was taught by her father and throughout their childhood they often wrote original compositions together. All of this ended when Steve left the family, first to become a touring concert pianist and later when his marriage failed. Ronnie blamed her father for the destruction of the family and stopped talking to him for three years.

Steve Miller is a complicated man who never really learned how to deal with his emotions as a child because of emotionally cripple parents. However, Steve's marriage to Kim helps to a certain degree, helping Steve to learn how to deal with other people's emotions. When Steve is diagnosed with cancer, his first thought is how difficult it was to watch his father die slowly from the same cancer. Steve knows what is in his future and he does not want his children to have to go through it with him. For this reason, Steve keeps his diagnosis a secret even as his children come to spend one last summer with him.