The Notebook ending saw Allie and Noah get their happily ever after — though Netflix's alternate ending tells a slightly different story. The movie follows Noah who lives in a facility with his wife Allie who has dementia. Hoping to help her memory, Noah reads to her from the titular notebook the pair created before Allie's dementia took hold. The doctors said the efforts to restore her memory were futile, but Noah's devotion to his wife meant he never gave up. Ultimately, Noah proved that he could make Allie temporarily remember so long as he kept reading to her.
Noah, who goes by Duke, told her the story as if it were about a fictional couple, detailing how these two teenagers shared a summer romance that grew into so much more. Older Allie learned through this tale how dedicated Noah had been, writing her letters every day for a year when they were separated and spending years fixing up the house he had promised for her. Finally, at the end of The Notebook, Allie remembered the rest of their story. The couple had some final moments of clarity together before choosing how they wanted their tale to end.
What Happens In The Notebook’s Ending?
The Bittersweet Ending Finds Allie And Noah Sharing One Last Memory Together
The movie ends in the present-day timeline of The Notebook and Allie remembers that she and Noah were the characters from the titular notebook's story. Unfortunately, this clarity only lasted a short time, and she returned to the agitated and confused state that her dementia held her in. This led to a heartbreaking scene in which Allie had to be sedated, a sight so upsetting that it caused Noah to have a heart attack.
He survived, and though he was placed in a different room from his wife, he didn't want to be apart so he snuck into Allie's hospital room and woke her up. Upon seeing him there, Allie remembered who she was and was distressed at the idea of forgetting Noah all over again. Together in Allie's hospital bed, the pair comforted each other, and Allie asked Noah whether he believed their love could create miracles, further elaborating that she wanted their love to allow them to pass together.
Noah stated that he thought it could, and, holding one another, they drifted off to sleep. In one of the final scenes, a nurse enters the hospital room and finds the two together. Though she never spoke, her shock after touching their hands indicated that they had passed away together in the night, just as they had hoped.
The Notebook's Alternate Streaming Ending Differences Explained
The Alternate Ending Was More Ambiguous
The scene in which the nurse finds Noah and Allie's bodies is the film's emotional high point. However, there is an alternate version of The Notebook that cuts it out completely. In 2019, Netflix UK began streaming The Notebook, but this version skipped over Noah and Allie's deaths and instead ended with a flock of birds flying over a lake. The pair never made their promise to "go" together, and a nurse never found their embracing bodies. Instead, it's simply implied that Noah and Allie chose to die together, leaving The Notebook's ending much more ambiguous and confusing.
Netflix UK was as surprised as everyone else about the alternate ending of The Notebook. The streaming platform released a statement on X (formerly Twitter) explaining that they had not edited the film's ending, and the alternate version was simply the cut that they had been supplied. Shortly after, Netflix replaced this version, which was likely edited per a different country's requirements, with the official cut.
Why Noah Died At The End Of The Notebook (Was He Sick Too?)
Noah's Death Cemented His Connection To Allie
Though the official ending of The Notebook is considerably less confusing than Netflix UK's accidental alternate one, there are still some questions left unanswered. Neither Noah nor Allie seemed anywhere near death throughout the movie, yet they both passed away. This makes more sense for Allie since dementia is a fatal disease. However, Noah had been told by the facility's doctor that he seemed as healthy as a horse.
In fact, the doctor and Noah's children were confused about why he would choose to live there when he did not need a high level of care. Noah's death could be the result of his heart attack, but it was seen to be a minor one, and he was able to recover fully. This implies that when he entered Allie's room, he was in no danger of passing away.
Still, the heart attack and Allie's meltdown brought the realization that it was only a matter of time before one of them could go no further. So, they counted on destiny to take them away together. Noah wasn't ill and likely would have lived longer than Allie, but he chose never to be apart from her.
Does Allie Remember Noah In The Notebook's Ending?
Noah Went To Allie Knowing She Would Remember Him
It took days of reading before Noah could make Allie remember him. When she finally had her moment of clarity, the couple only had a short time of dancing, kissing, and talking before Allie again forgot and became distressed that a supposed stranger was touching her. Noah revealed in this scene that the last time she had remembered, it had also lasted for only a few minutes.
This implies that Noah had done this multiple times before, which only adds to the tragedy of their story. It's clear that the man felt that days of patiently reading to Allie were worth the few lucid moments he would have with her. However, the night that he entered Allie's room at the end of The Notebook was different. Noah was sure that Allie would still remember him despite his episode and he was right.
Without any fear that she might not remember him and become distressed, Noah woke her up. She immediately knew exactly who he was, and they both did their best to absorb this time with one another. In her rare moment of clarity, Allie knew—just as Noah had known all along—that she couldn't stand to be without him again.
Noah & Allie's Death Was Their Final 'Miracle' In The Notebook
Their Ending Matches The Couple's Ability To Choose Their Path Together
The idea of miracles held a lot of weight in The Notebook. Noah and Allie's romance centralized that they never should have found one another. They had drastically different backgrounds and the fact that they spent years apart, living separate lives, just for Allie to see Noah in the paper before her wedding was a massive bit of luck. Despite all the aspects of their lives that should have pushed them apart, they stayed devoted to one another.
This is part of what made Noah believe that he could work a miracle and bring Allie back from her foggy world of dementia. However, this wasn't the couple's true miracle. If Noah and Allie hadn't died together, one of two things might have happened. Either Allie would have passed away first from complications related to dementia, or Noah would have had another, this time fatal, heart attack.
If the former were true, Noah would have to watch his wife slowly slip away from him for good until she could no longer be pulled back by the story from his notebook. If Noah had died first, Allie would have been left alone in her confusion without the only person capable of reminding her who she was. Neither was an option for this pair. Since neither Allie nor Noah were fatally ill at that moment, they needed a miracle if they hoped to pass away together.
[They] had seen throughout their lives together that their love was strong enough to allow them to choose .
This shouldn't have been possible, but since they both believed and had seen throughout their lives together that their love was strong enough to allow them to choose, their faith was rewarded. Their final miracle allowed them to lay down together, safe, warm, and lucid, and pass away peacefully.
The Real Meaning Of The Notebook's Final Bird Scene Explained
Birds Symbolize Allie And Noah Being Together Forever
Birds were a constant presence throughout The Notebook's story. When they were teenagers, Allie declared she was a bird — a free spirit that could fly away and experience the world however she chose. Noah responded with the famous line, "If you're a bird, I'm a bird," indicating that wherever she went, he would follow.
Later, when Allie came to Seabrook after seeing Noah in the paper, he took her out to see a flock of geese who were supposed to have migrated away. He stated that the beautiful birds were only there temporarily and would eventually return to where they had come from — just like Allie.
Finally, in both versions of The Notebook's ending, a flock of birds flies toward the horizon. Just as they had throughout the film, these beings represented Allie and Noah. The moment, that immediately followed the reveal that the couple had died together, demonstrated that the pair was still together. If Allie was a bird, so was Noah, and they would fly together for all eternity as a reward for their steadfast love.
How The Notebook Ending Was Received
The Notebook's Ending Has Cemented Its Legacy In Its Genre
While the overall romance the movie presents captured the audience's attention, The Notebook ending is what helped it become one of the most iconic love stories in movie history. The final moments of The Notebook take the audience on an incredible ride of emotions that sets up such a powerful conclusion. There is the reveal of the clever twist that this old couple is actually Allie and Noah, the heartbreaking moment of realizing how Allie's illness has robbed them of so much, and the bittersweet finale of them dying in each other's arms.
The Notebook has earned a reputation for having one of the movie endings most likely to make the audience cry. It is impressive that so much of the movie was seeing Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling play out this epic love story, only for the movie to switch to James Garner and Gena Rowlands to deliver the most emotional aspects of the story. While it is a sad ending to experience, The Notebook pulls it off expertly and hasearned a legacy it never could have achieved with a different ending.
Nicholas Sparks' Book Has A Different Ending
The Novel Has A More Open-Ended Conclusion
Along with the theatrical release's ending and the alternate ending on streaming, there is also a third version of The Notebook's ending with the source material. The Notebook changed several aspects of the book, from some key characters missing to some big moments in Allie and Noah's romance. However, the most significant change that is made is to the ending with author Nicholas Sparks going for a more open-ended conclusion.
In the novel, the final moments of the story play out very much like they do in the book, with Noah sneaking into Allie's room at night and her remembering him. However, the book doesn't end with Noah and Allie dying in their sleep as they wake up in each other's arms the next morning and Noah is shocked to see that Allie still remembers him. The story then ends with Noah recognizing that the time they have together is short but that he will cherish all of it.
The ending of The Notebook novel captures the bittersweet conclusion of the movie as well as the miracle of Allie's memory lasting longer than expected. However, the movie's ending is still more effective as it gives the audience the closure they need to the story, instead of leaving them with the knowledge that this happy moment is fleeting.
Adapted from Nicholas Sparks' novel of the same name, The Notebook is a romantic drama film that follows a couple who fall in love during the 1940s. Duke, an older man, recounts the story of two young lovers whose lives never lined up quite right to a fellow patient in his nursing home. Reading from the notebook pages, the movie keeps flashing from the present into the past to tell the story of the one that got away.
Director Nick Cassavetes
Release Date June 25, 2004
Runtime 124 Minutes
English (US) ·