The Promise is a 1979 American romantic drama film released by Universal Pictures which starred Kathleen Quinlan, Stephen Collins, and Beatrice Straight.

Weintraub and Heller also wrote the source story, which Garry Michael White dramatized; the resultant film was novelized by Danielle Steel.

While visiting a park overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, they hide a costume jewelry necklace under a large rock, promising that they will love each other as long as it remains undisturbed—which they expect to be forever.

Time passes, and Nancy undergoes a series of successful surgeries to repair her face (although she looks significantly different than before the accident).

She goes to Dr. Gregson, the plastic surgeon who repaired her face and with whom she is now involved romantically, and tells him she will be finished with her old life after making one last trip to the east coast.

Director Gilbert Cates originally planned to cast two different actresses to play the same character before and after the accident, but changed his mind after meeting Kathleen Quinlan.

The theme song lyrics were jointly written by Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and the resulting selection, titled "I'll Never Say Goodbye," was performed by Melissa Manchester.

Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote "The members of the cast are undercut by both material and direction," explaining that Kathleen Quinlan "is shortstopped not only by ridiculous lines but also by makeup that gives her the plastic look of a face-lift even before the accident so (I assume) she'll look fairly normal later.

Quite unintentionally it works as an often hilarious parody of the women's pictures of the '40s, a melodramatic genre decidedly out of step with today's liberated heroines.

"[8] There was, however, a positive review in Variety, which found Quinlan "pretty convincing" but thought Beatrice Straight gave "easily, the performance in the film" and added "Gilbert Cates comes very close to making out-and-out soap opera not only endurable but believable.