Danielle Steel's 'Message from Nam'

Inspired by her father, whom she lost at a young age, Paxton Andrews shuns a traditional Southern upbringing to follow her own path. Embarking on a career which will eventually change her entire life, she attends college at Berkeley. Whilst majoring in journalism, Paxton meets Peter Wilson, a young law student and against her family's wishes they become inseparable. When Peter is drafted and subsequently killed in Vietnam, Paxton is bereft and feels she must go to Vietnam and find out for herself why the war is happening and try to make some sense of it all - not only for herself, but for the people at home too. After an intense affair with an army captain and her search for a lover lost in action, Paxton's story culminates with the fall of Saigon and her realisation that she must put the past behind her and look toward her future.