Campbell Scott and Jennifer Jason Leigh star in the film ‘The Love Letter’, a Hallmark Hall of Fame television film directed by Dan Curtis and released in 1998. It’s based on Jack Finney’s short story of the same name, which debuted in The Saturday Evening Post on August 1, 1959, and was reprinted in the same publication in the January/February 1988 issue. The story has now been published in a number of books.
Jake Belknap, a young, lonely single man in Brooklyn, New York, is hunting for used furniture to adorn his newly purchased apartment in 1959. He discovers a yard sale of antique furniture from a home about to be demolished while walking through a region of the borough that features very huge, historic, wonderful mansions due to be demolished, and is attracted by an antique roll-top desk from the 1800s, which he purchases.
He opens a drawer after bringing the desk home and discovers genuine stationery from the previous century, as well as some vintage stamps from the time period. He also discovers a love letter from a woman named Helen Elizabeth Worley, who resided in Brooklyn in the 1880s, to a man she dreams about, despite the fact that she is about to marry a man she despises.
He feels obligated to respond to Helen by writing to her on ancient stationery with pen and ink, stamping the letter with an 1869 stamp (from his collection), and posting it at the old ‘Wister’ post office in Brooklyn, which has remained intact since the 19th century.
When he gets home and opens the second drawer, he is surprised to discover that Helen has received his letter and is curious about who he is and why he has written to her. He writes her another letter, outlining himself and the fact that he was born in the year 1959, and that despite their love for each other, they are unable to meet due to the years separating them. He expects to receive a final, long love letter from her, but instead finds simply her picture and the words ‘I will never forget in the bottom drawer.
After conducting an investigation into her whereabouts, he discovers her grave in a nearby cemetery, with the inscription ‘I never forgot’ etched on her tombstone. In 1934, Miss Worley passed away.
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