| Director | Richard LaGravenese |
|---|---|
| Budget | $50 million |
| Box office | $60.1 million |
In Gatlin, South Carolina, teen Ethan Wate awakens from a recurring dream of a girl he has not met. He despairs of his small-town existence and dreams of leaving for college.
On Ethan's first day of junior year, newcomer Lena Duchannes arrives, who resembles the girl in his dreams. Other students gossip about Lena's reclusive uncle Macon Ravenwood, and suggest that the members of her family are devil worshippers. On the way home, Ethan nearly runs her over. Giving her a ride, they bond over interests.
In class, a few students insist that they cannot be in class with Lena so they pray to be protected from her and her family. Visibly shaken, her class’ windows shatter, which increases fears and suspicions that she is a witch. Ethan and Lena become friends, and he gives her a locket that he found at Greenbriar. Both touch the locket, which triggers a shared flashback to the American Civil War.
Macon disapproves of their relationship and conspires with Ethan's family friend Amma to separate them. Lena tells Ethan that she and her family are "casters" (called witches by mortals) and can perform spells. On her 16th birthday, her true nature will reveal itself toward either the light or dark.
Complications arise when two powerful dark casters aim to push Lena to the dark: Lena's cousin Ridley and Lena's mother Sarafine, who did not raise her and has possessed the mother of Ethan's friend Link, Mrs. Lincoln.
Foreseeing that Lena will become a powerful caster, Sarafine wants Lena to use her power to purge the Earth of mortals and leave just casters. The couple have another flashback of their past with the locket that reveals that their ancestors, the caster Genevieve Duchannes and the mortal Confederate soldier Ethan Carter Wate, were in love. Ethan died in battle, and Genevieve revived him. Doing so laid a curse on all Duchannes women, who will go dark on their 16th birthday.
A mortified Lena asks Amma to help since she is a seer and keeper of the caster library, which is beneath the town library and extends across the United States. The most ancient of the books reveals the secret to undoing the curse: a person Lena loves has to die. Unwilling to take Ethan's life, Lena erases his memories of their love.
Seducing Link, Ridley gives him a bullet to use in the upcoming Civil War reenactment of the Battle of Honey Hill, which is also on Lena's 16th birthday. Lena feels the shock of the curse being broken, runs to Ethan, and clutches his dying body while Ridley and Sarafine encourage her to accept the dark. She lashes out in anger and sends a huge tornado through the crowd until Ethan's body transforms into Macon, who disguised himself to be the sacrifice to lift the curse.
As Macon is dying, he reveals that he promised Ethan's mother to keep her son alive. Those dying words encourage Lena to "claim herself". She causes the moon to disappear so it cannot claim her for the dark. Allowing Ridley to flee, she pulls Sarafine from Mrs. Lincoln's body and powerfully seals away Sarafine's spirit.
Six months later, a still-amnesiac Ethan visits Amma in the library before a college tour with Link. Lena gives him a book that they had once shared as a present. She is a half-light/dark caster. As Link and Ethan reach the town line, the town's burned exit sign seems to restore his memories. He gets out of the car and shouts for Lena, who hears his call.