Seventeen-year-old Landon Carter, the novel’s first-person protagonist, hails from a wealthy, prominent family in Beaufort, North Carolina. From a physical standpoint, Landon has brown hair, is handsome enough to be accepted by the popular kids in school, and feels superior to the unfortunate-looking “nerds” in his class. Landon, who feels that “he didn’t excel at much of anything” (23), rebels against his capitalist-minded family by spending his time hanging out at the graveyard with his friends and playing pranks. Given that Landon’s sense of identity comes from being socially acceptable, he is conscious of his self-image, and of not being seen doing uncool things, such as walking unpopular Jamie home.

Landon’s character transformation comes when he shifts from a largely purposeless life to one of following his heart and being charitable. His conscience is awakened when Jamie requests that he play the part of Tom Thornton in the school play and he cheerlessly accepts losing his popular image for “doing the ‘right thing’” (79). As he grows to respect and then fall in love with Jamie, his generosity only increases as he sacrifices his savings in favor of contributing to an underfunded orphanage.