Rosamunde Pilcher: Die zweite Chance (1997)

Young Julia Hawthorne works as a journalist. Her career is what matters most to her; besides, at her age, she wants to enjoy life for a while. For now, she has no thoughts of love. The memory of her mother Liz’s fate makes her hesitate to enter into a committed relationship. After a long marriage, her mother, a still attractive woman in her mid-forties, was left by Julia’s father, who had fallen in love with a young village girl and eventually ran off with her. Julia is determined not to suffer the same fate as her mother. When Julia meets the young, attractive Miles Brendan, who has been hired as estate manager for the family property, her resolve begins to waver. Miles keeps it secret that he is the son of a well-known diplomat, because he wants to build a career through his own efforts, without relying on his father’s support or the family inheritance. This repeatedly leads to clashes between father and son. Miles falls in love with Julia at once. Julia is also attracted to Miles, but resists deeper feelings and wants to keep their relationship purely platonic. She also thinks Miles is a fortune hunter who is using his position as estate manager to gain access to a higher social class. When Julia meets Vic, a London playboy who is as attractive as he is shallow, she falls passionately in love with him. She moves to London to live with Vic and tries to forget Miles. Miles then gives up his job as estate manager. To distract himself from his grief, he withdraws into solitude and renovates his cottage alone, which he inherited as part of the family estate. Julia’s mother, Liz, regrets her daughter’s decision, because she had hoped Miles and Julia would become a couple. By now, she herself is unhappily in love with Garry, a fisherman who cannot return her feelings because he is married and puts the well-being of his daughter, whom he lovingly cares for, above everything else. Julia eventually invites Miles to her wedding in London. When he receives the invitation, he realizes once again that Julia is the great love of his life. He decides to fight for her.