Oliver Barrett IV is emotionally devastated by the death of his young wife, Jenny, who succumbed to leukemia.

As he tries to lose himself in his work as a lawyer, the long hours do not ease his pain, especially when he finds that his views conflict with those of the senior partners at the firm.

Despite his affection for her, Oliver finds it difficult to leave the memory of Jenny behind, which causes many problems in their relationship, even as he concurrently begins a reconciliation with his autocratic father.

And in my mind's eye I also saw [Ray] Milland and [John] Marley in their roles" and he felt Candice Bergen would have been ideal for the lead female.

Instead Paramount commissioned David Newman and his wife to write an original screenplay using the characters from Love Story.

In September 1977 Segal said he was writing the screenplay version of Oliver's Story which he had sold, without Paramount's involvement, to Lew Grade, to make, possible for television.

Don Simpson, vice president of production at Paramount, said the studio had four screenplays in total under consideration for the sequel (this presumably included the script from the Newmans), plus the sole right to use Ryan O'Neal's services.

Don Simpson wanted Arthur Hiller to direct while Segal's choice of director was Claude Lelouch.

Segal's preference for the female lead was Candice Bergen although rumours at the time had Farrah Fawcett as the favourite.

[10] In August 1977 Segal said Lew Grade had bought the rights to Oliver's Story for $1 million and that filming on the project would start on 15 October 1977, possibly starring Richard Jordan or Jan Michael Vincent as Oliver and Jacqueline Bisset as the female lead, with Charles Jarrott most likely to direct.

[8] By September, however, it was announced that Lew Grade had reliquished his rights to the project and Segal and Paramount had come to terms - the studio would adapt Oliver's Story.

He claims Picker called him up and said, "Erich Segal is writing his own script and I'm pretty sure it's going to be terrible,” so "“I'm looking for somebody to treat it like an independent film...

I know your work and I would love to have you direct this with the idea that you'll probably end up writing a script as well, and it's going to be a six or seven million dollar Christmas release from Paramount.”[13] Although Korty did not like Love Story, he was eager to try his hand at something more commercial and thought the prospect of dealing with Oliver's grief over Jenny's death would make for rich thematic material.

While David Picker was supportive, Korty says Michael Eisner, then head of Paramount, did not want to cast them as they were unknown.

"I wrote and photographed a very upbeat ending in which, as a symbolic gesture, Ryan knocks down a wall in his apartment as a way of opening up his life and starting with this young girl," said Korty.

They're involved in his life.”[17] In March 1978 it was reported Paramount hoped to give the female lead to Meryl Streep who had been in Julia but that O'Neal wanted Candice Bergen.

[14] The other female lead was played by Nicola Pagett, who had been in Upstairs, Downstairs and was cast after the filmmakers saw her photo in People magazine and flew her out to the US for a test.

Both Bergen and Pagett were only cast after filming had already started, a situation producer David Picker called "very, very scary.

The DGA's [Directors Guild of America] rules about so many things are nice to have, but of course they can't overcome power politics.

[22] O'Neal thought a major reason behind the film's failure was the fact the character played by Nicola Pagett was cut out of the last third.