In Netflix’s mini-series adaptation of “One Day,” I was wholly engaged while watching the main characters grow together, then apart, then back together until the finale, which features one of the most twisted, heart-breaking endings I’ve ever had the displeasure of watching.

The British television series is the second adaptation of the highly-acclaimed 2009 novel of the same name written by David Nicholls. The first adaptation, directed by Lone Scherfig and starring Anne Hathaway, was released in 2011 and follows the same gut-wrenching premise.

The newer adaptation follows star-crossed lovers Emma Morley, played by Ambika Mod, and Dexter Mayhew, played by Leo Woodall, from the first night they met in 1988. After agreeing to stay friends after that one fateful night, each of the 14 episodes then follows the pair over the next 20 years of their lives.

While Emma and Dexter live out their own lives and follow passions separate from each other, their lives remain intertwined through their semi-annual — sometimes planned, sometimes unintentional — rendezvous over the years.

However, the format of the new limited series allows for more depth during each of the character’s meetings, making the build-up to the finale much more impactful than its 2011 film counterpart.

The series pulls viewers into both Dexter and Emma’s relationship and their personal lives. Its episodic format allows them to witness the characters’ genuine, intense struggles in incredible depth.

Viewers realize from the beginning that Dexter and Emma’s friendship will follow the cliché “will they or won’t they” plot, but this series does it right; each episode had me genuinely wondering when — or if — they’d ever finally realize they were each other’s soulmates.

The series does change one key aspect of the novel, though. While the Netflix adaptation opens with Emma and Dexter’s meet-cute, the book leaves their first meeting at the very end. The decision for the characters to meet at the beginning of the series was a necessary introduction to the dynamic between the characters and was helpful when callbacks were made to their first meeting in later episodes.

Despite small directorial differences between adaptations, the lesson is always the same grim reminder that there is no time like the present, so love everything and everyone like they’re already gone.

“One Day” is now streaming on Netflix.