U.S. Marine Logan Thibault finds a photograph of a smiling young woman half-buried in the dirt during his first deployment in the Iraq War.

He carries the photo in his pocket and soon wins a streak of poker games, then survives a battle that kills two of his closest buddies.

Back home in Colorado, Thibault begins to believe that the woman in the photo somehow holds the key to his destiny.

He sets out on a journey across the country with his German shepherd, Zeus, to find her and eventually encounters Elizabeth "Beth" Green, a divorced mother with a young son, Ben, in North Carolina.

Caught off guard by the attraction he feels, Thibault keeps the story of the photo and his luck a secret.

He and Beth begin a passionate love affair, but the secret of the photo soon threatens to tear them apart, and by continued interference in their lives by Beth's ex-husband, the town's Sheriff and son of town's most eminent person and businessman—destroying not only their deep and true passionate, romantic love but also their very lives.

He adds, however, that he is "a big believer in the fact that people have the ability to influence the future in a way that seems coincidental and when that happens, the feeling of fate or destiny is amplified.

[...] In the end, when writing The Lucky One, I wanted to explore the subject of fate or destiny, but in a way that reflected the reality of the world.

He is carrying a camera he borrowed from the Police Department and is taking pictures of three female college students.

He comes across a man whom Keith describes as looking like a hippie walking down a logging road by the beach with a dog.

Keith goes back to find the camera he hid, but it is gone and the tires on his squad car are slashed.

When the story changes to Logan's perspective, he is in the car with the three college girls who picked him up when he indicated he wanted to hitch a ride.

It is explained how Logan began to play Poker while tensions were building in the Middle East and this was his outlet.

It is then mentioned that Logan liked to go for early morning runs while in the Middle East and one day he came upon a picture half buried in the sand.

It is first noticed when his friend in his squad, Victor, encourages him to join in a poker game that night.

A story is told about how the two comrades in his fire team are killed by a RPG and Logan survives.

Keith receives a phone call from a co-worker, Tony, who says a stranger has a picture of Beth at a local pool hall and was asking about her.

He applies for a position at the kennel and Beth becomes suspicious due to the half told story Logan tells her.

Nana decides to hire Logan, but admits she feels he isn't telling the whole truth about being in Hampton.

Nana decides to go on a trip to visit her sister in Greensboro, leaving Beth and Logan to tend to the kennel.

Logan suggests to Beth that Keith has been the reason why none of her relationships have lasted and tells her about the break-in he had had in his home.

Beth doesn't necessarily believe Keith at the time and confronts Logan who admits to having the photo.

Keith tells her he was going to take her to court to obtain full custody of Ben if she doesn't follow his rules.

Keith tries to go to the tree house but falls through the rotten wood and breaks his ribs and clings to rope bridge as well.