Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of mental illness and sexual content.

At the end of the summer, Mitchell and Larry fly to Paris. Mitchell would have preferred London, but Larry, a Francophile, won out when he was able to secure cheap flights. When they arrive, they head to the apartment of Larry’s girlfriend, Claire, who is spending a semester abroad.

Mitchell instantly feels awkward and left out, especially upon noticing that the apartment contains only one bed. He tries to have a discussion with Claire about a book she is reading on feminist thought, but it devolves into Claire’s criticism of monotheistic religions when she learns of Mithcell’s religious studies pursuits.

They spend the afternoon wandering the city, and when they stumble upon a market, Larry gets inspired to cook a French dish. Back at Claire’s apartment, Larry prepares the dinner, and Claire announces that she is going to read on the bed. Mitchell pulls out a copy of A Moveable Feast, but Claire instantly begins criticizing Hemingway as a misogynist. After dinner, Mitchell asks where he can find a hotel. Both Larry and Claire try to protest, but not very sincerely.

As Mitchell walks away from Claire’s apartment, he recalls running into Madeleine in a bar just two days before the departing flight to Paris. He had reassured himself all summer that Madeleine would warm to him once again now that she had broken up with Leonard. She was friendly that night at the bar, and this gave Mitchell hope. After Madeleine left, however, another friend mentioned that she and Leonard had gotten back together.

Mitchell had spent the summer living at his parents’ home in Detroit, Michigan. First, he worked as an overnight taxi driver, but then he became a bus boy at a Greek restaurant when he realized that he was making very little money as a taxi driver. He also secretly took catechism classes at a nearby Catholic parish as he considered converting to Catholicism.

He arrives at a hotel only to find an American ahead of him, trying to get a room. The American, named Clyde, tells him that all the hotels are booked. Mitchell ends up splitting a room with him. The next morning, Mitchell cannot locate his money belt with his traveler’s checks and fears that Clyde has stolen them. However, he then sees it lying on the floor. He wanders the city, reluctant to spend any more money. At Sacre Cour, he splurges on a book about Mother Thersa. He secures a room at a hostel and then heads to Claire’s that evening, where he has planned to meet the couple for dinner.

Once inside the apartment, Mitchell tries to talk Larry into leaving Paris for India, complaining about the hotel costs eating into his budget. Larry asks Mitchell to stay for three more days. As the three walk to dinner, Claire accuses Mitchell of ogling women on the street. They argue over the meal, and Mitchell tries to defend himself. That night at the hostel, he becomes aroused while envisioning Claire. The next morning, he pays for his stay at the hostel and finds Larry on its front steps, smoking a cigarette: Claire has broken up with him. Mitchell is relieved to have his friend back and happy that the real trip can now begin.

The narrative shifts to Madeleine’s point of view. She remembers receiving a gift from her older sister, Alwyn—away at college—for her 14th birthday: It was a shoebox that Alwyn had labeled “The Bachelorette’s Survival Kit.” In it, she included sexual items, such as a condom, a French tickler, and other sex toys. She thinks back on this box during the summer that she lives with Leonard. While he remains in the hospital for 22 days, Madeleine lives in his apartment. When Leonard is discharged, he continues to take medication, which lowers his libido and makes his mind sluggish. He remains upset about not having finished his college degree. Neither has a job, and the days move slowly.

However, by August, Leonard shows signs of his old self again. He and Madeleine pack up, place belongings in storage, and then drive Madeleine’s used Saab —a graduation gift from her parents—up the coast to the Pilgrim Lake lab. Leonard is initially anxious about his work as a research assistant but appears to Madeleine to be doing okay otherwise. After Labor Day, one of the lab’s researchers, 73-year-old Diane MacGregor, is awarded the Nobel Prize. Madeleine admires the eccentric recluse—the only woman at Pilgrim Lake. A few weeks later, Madeleine attends a conference on Victorian Literature at Boston College. Though she has been told by her thesis advisor that the writing is suitable to be polished for publishing as a paper, Madeleine is not certain if she is interested in doing so. At the conference, she quickly befriends two other women her age and gains a renewed excitement for Victorianism. She returns from the conference with a fevered determination to transform her thesis into a publishable article.

Madeleine’s mother and sister stop for a brief, one-day visit. Alwyn has just left her husband, leaving her baby son behind with him. Their mother asserts that this is ridiculous and is trying to convince Alwyn to return to both of them. Madeleine is nervous to have her mother meet Leonard and hopes that she might prevent it from happening entirely, citing how busy Leonard is at work. However, as she drives them past the lab, her mother is eager to stop in.

Madeleine is surprised when the meeting goes very well: Leonard is unusually personable and explains his research with yeast cells, even preparing some slides for Madeleine’s mother to look at through a microscope. Madeleine has never heard Leonard discuss his research at all, let alone with such enthusiasm.

They stop at Madeleine’s apartment briefly so that Alwyn can pump breast milk. When she is finished, an argument ensues about Alwyn’s decision to end her marriage. Alwyn retorts by revealing Leonard’s use of lithium, having seen the prescription bottle in the bathroom. When they leave, Madeleine’s mother asks her to thank Leonard for her for taking the time out of work to see them.

When Leonard returns from work, Madeleine thanks him with a kiss, and Leonard suddenly gets an erection for the first time since he has been re-medicated. They prepare to have sex, but Leonard loses the erection while Madeleine prepares her diaphragm. Leonard cries before falling asleep, and then Madeleine falls asleep, too.

When she awakens, it is dark. Madeleine walks the beach, reminding herself of what the doctors have said about taking time to get the lithium dosage right. She is nearly knocked over by Diane MacGregor’s dog, who has escaped from her. Diane appears, and then she and Madeleine chat briefly.

Meanwhile Mitchell and Larry continue on to Ireland, then Spain, Morrocco, Italy, and Greece. Mitchell immerses himself in various Christian classical texts and sometimes discusses them with Larry. He is struck by how quickly Larry has gotten over Claire, which makes him wonder about his own love for Madeleine and whether he is intentionally wallowing in his hurt, refusing to get over her. In Greece, he receives a letter from his mother and one from Madeleine herself. Mitchell reads most of his mother’s letter while he waits in line at the American Express to cash travelers’ checks. A woman in line behind him strikes up a conversation about Christianity and insists that Mitchell take a copy of the New Testament.

He debates throwing away Madeleine’s letter without reading it but opens it that night after Larry has fallen asleep. In the letter, Madeleine reveals that when she brought him to her parents’ house for Thanksgiving, she had hoped that they would have sex. When they did not, she decided that she must be too good for Mitchell. She explains that she has been having some difficulty with Leonard and that kissing Mitchell in New York was a mistake. She is writing the letter to permanently “break up” with Mitchell. She adds a postscript four months later to say that she has decided to finally mail the letter. Mitchell dissects the letter, looking for signs that Madeleine is in love with him.

They travel to other small towns throughout Greece, and as Christmas approaches, they winnow their possessions down, shipping unneeded items back to the US in preparation to depart for India. They arrive back in Athens, where Larry wants to climb the Acropolis; Mitchell excuses himself, instead rereading Madeleine’s letter and crying for the first time. Then, he picks up the New Testament—inside is the business card of the woman who gave the book to him, named Janice. Mitchell calls her, and when she asks if he wants to “ask” Jesus into his heart, he replies “yes” without really giving it any thought. They discuss the ability to speak in tongues, and Janice says that she will pray that Mitchell receives this ability.

Mitchell heads to the Acropolis but cannot find Larry. He climbs to the top and attempts to speak in tongues, but nothing happens. He then returns to the hotel only to find Larry having sex with a Greek man. Mitchell knows that he will be departing for India the next day without Larry.