With four months until Jeffrey begins graduate school, the newlyweds decide to spend the summer travelling in Europe. Jeffrey determines that they can afford to travel the entire time if they limit themselves to a budget of five dollars per day. The plan is to travel from country to country following their whims, camping every night in order to maintain their budget. For the first time in their lives, Garten and Jeffrey are free from the expectations of their parents, their colleges, and the military. Garten is overwhelmed by this new sense of freedom and the joy she feels in sharing it with Jeffrey.

After picking up their car in Paris, the couple drives to Amsterdam to see the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh and Henri Matisse. They spend one night in a budget hotel, and Ina is bitten by an identified creature. Early the next morning, she buys a thick sleeping bag which she uses for the rest of the summer, despite the heat. The couple travels to Holland, the United Kingdom, and Belgium before returning to France.

Garten identifies their time in France as the moment her world turns to color. As they drive between small towns and villages in the countryside, Jeffrey and Garten stop at open-air markets and experience fresh, local ingredients for the first time.