Sweet Home Alabama

The story is a love triangle involving two childhood Alabama sweethearts who married but became estranged, Jake Perry and Melanie Smooter (Lucas and Witherspoon), and Melanie's longtime boyfriend Andrew Hennings (Dempsey).Melanie is a successful fashion designer. When she becomes engaged to Andrew, the son of the mayor of New York City, Melanie announces that she has to go back home alone to Alabama to tell her parents in person. Her private reason is to demand a divorce from Jake. She has not told Andrew that she is still married.Jake refuses to divorce her until one night she gets drunk and explains to everyone in the bar that the reason she married Jake was because she was pregnant, and she later had a miscarriage. Jake becomes angry with her and takes her home. When she wakes up the next morning, the divorce papers are laying on her bed signed by Jake.Melanie learns that Jake had once gone to New York City to try to find her, because he still loved her. That night, she goes to the cemetery to tell her old coon dog Bear good bye. Jake shows up and explains how he told the dog that her disappearance was his fault and they end up talking about why the marriage didn't work, the baby they lost, and why she left. Jake gives a blessing for Melanie to have a good life with Andrew, but Melanie says she can't do it and kisses Jake. Jake pushes her away, however, and tells her to go home.The next day, Andrew arrives in town. Jake meets him and discovers that he is Melanie's boyfriend. Jake, identifying himself as Melanie's cousin, brings Andrew to Melanie. Andrew finds out that Melanie is still married to Jake and runs off angrily.Melanie returns to her parents' house where her father walks in with Andrew. Andrew tells her how sorry he is and how he wants to still marry her. They decide to have the wedding in Alabama and Andrew's mother comes down from New York. On her wedding day, as she is walking down the aisle, and her lawyer shows up and explains that Jake signed the divorce papers, but she didn't. Melanie decides to not sign the papers, and that she doesn't want to marry Andrew, because she still loves Jake which Andrew understands. She runs away from her wedding to go find Jake, who is on the same beach where, years ago, ten-year-old Jake had told her that he wanted to marry her "so I can kiss you anytime I want."Melanie tells him that she didn't marry Andrew because she wanted to be with him so that she could kiss him whenever she wanted to. As Jake and Melanie kiss, Wade, the town sheriff, interrupts them by handcuffing them and taking them back to Stella's, Jake's mother's bar, where all of their friends and family are waiting.