 Though author Herman Raucher (qv) admits to moving the order of  certain events around and interchanging some dialogue, the movie is  (according to those involved) an accurate depiction of events in  Rauchers life in the summer of 1942 on Nantucket Island; he didnt  even change anyones name. He began writing the screenplay as a  tribute to his friend Oscy, whod been killed in the Korean War, but  midway through writing it Raucher realized that he wanted to make it  a story about Dorothy, who he had in fact neither seen nor heard  from since their last night together as depicted in the movie.  Raucher admits that in all the time he knew her, he never bothered  to ask her what her last name was.