Brinkley writes in her memoir that it initially started out as a song for a "mystery girl" Joel had been having phone conversations with, but when his relationship with Brinkley began, he finished it in her honor. Their relationship was then forever immortalized in the hit song's iconic music video, in which Brinkley appears in.

Christie Brinkley and Billy Joel's relationship lasted nearly a decade before the couple divorced. Brinkley admitted that she didn't want to leave Joel, but his drinking problem was too much for her to handle.