A couple is kissing in a hotel room, astrophysics professor Ed (Jeremy Irons) and his lover the PhD student Amy Ryan (Olga Kurylenko).

Next to her studies Amy has free-lance jobs as stuntwoman who is not afraid to perform dangerous scenes that normally lead to the death of the character: the movie shows her in action on occasion.

It is shown later that Amy met Ed at one of his conferences 6 years ago and she fell in love with his way of talking about astrophysics.

Back home Amy decides to go to the same hotel where they shared the nights and she receives a package with one of his clothes and a letter instructing her to celebrate his birthday in his summer house in Italy, on an island in a mountain lake.

In the last night she receives another video message revealing that he knows her darkest secret, an accident she feels she may have caused that killed her father.

She asks one of her colleagues from the movie industry to recover whatever he can from the burnt CD, but with minimal luck despite help from a friend in the Secret Service.

Meanwhile, she decides to use the new laptop to begin filming herself speaking about herself as if sending messages to Ed, even revealing the details of the accident that killed her father.

One day, Amy finds her home ravaged by robbers and her new laptop stolen, but in the mess she notices Ed's old notebook with pencil impressions marks of his last letter.

Inspired by Ed's returning messages, which challenge Amy to reconnect with her mother and to finish her doctoral thesis, she puts her life together again.

She flies there and receives a last message from Ed where he reflects that humanity made a mistake that prevents them from immortality.

Outside she meets a colleague from the movie stunt business who tried to reach her, in vain because she cut off much of her communication channels.

The Correspondence reunites much of the same production team behind Tornatore's The Best Offer, including the Italian director's long-time collaborator, Ennio Morricone, as composer.