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The poignant and hilarious story of the Petersens during their vacation across Europe where the father Douglas tries to win back the love of his wife Connie and become reconciled with their son Albie.

Douglas Petersen is looking forward to a three week tour of Europe with his wife and teenage son. Things don't exactly go as planned.

It's on to Amsterdam, where Douglas's plans begin to go very awry. Is this the end of the line?

After a day in Venice with only tourist clothes on his back and two feetful of blisters from all the walking to show for it, Douglas seems no closer to locating Albie despite his methodical search, the tourist area not being large, and knowing that Albie is indeed in the city. The one person he does seem to encounter constantly is Freja. What starts as the two being new friends turns into each bonding with the other in their common loneliness, much like Douglas and Connie having the loss of Jane being the first thing they having in common and thus bonding over that situation early in their marriage. And back in Britain, Connie can only imagine what is happening in Douglas largely being incommunicado as she forwards what she has been able to discover about Albie's whereabouts via the Internet.

Without Albie knowing he was coming, Douglas is finally able to catch up with him in Barcelona, Albie who is not too happy to see his father in expecting Kat and expecting specific news about being an imminent father for which he was bracing himself. While they are able to bring up some issues that have been wedges between them for the better part of their lives, certain other issues come to light that weren't truly surprises but that may help them come to new terms in their relationship. But arguably the biggest issue is one where Albie is forced to take the lead and that will extend their stay on the continent for another couple of weeks, an extra two weeks for Douglas to bridge the gaps between both him and Albie and him and Connie before it's too late.