Author Wendy Dale

WARNING: What follows is a spoiler.

Introduction: While working at a mind-numbing job that seems to consist primarily of publicizing what will be on the menu the next day in the employee cafeteria, 25-year-old Wendy Dale realizes there has to be more to life.

Chapter 1 (Honduras): She hops on a plane to visit her parents, who quite conveniently have just moved to Honduras with no jobs and no plans for the future, having just sold everything they own ("the house, the car, and anything else that could be considered their children’s future inheritance").

Chapter 2 (Lebanon): Bitten by the travel bug, Wendy decides to visit her high school buddy Peter. The only problem is that he lives in a place where bombs fall from the sky more often than raindrops.

Chapter 3 (Cuba): Upon arriving in Havana, an unpleasant traveler from Mexico City stands in the way of all Wendy’s plans. Yet somehow she manages to rendezvous with an attractive Cuban.

Chapter 4 (Costa Rica): At first, a trip to Costa Rica sounds dull, but by the time Wendy leaves three weeks later, she has made the papers, visited a prison and been interrogated by the Costa Rican FBI.

Chapter 5 (Costa Rica): Talking Wendy’s friend Jessica out of going to the local jail in Costa Rica is about as likely as successfully withdrawing money from a Central American ATM machine. And when Wendy falls in love with a Colombian inmate named Francisco, her travel plans are changed forever.

Chapter 6 (Costa Rica): There is just one obstacle keeping Wendy from building a life with her new beau in Costa Rica — the fact that he has just been falsely accused of masterminding a prison breakout.

Chapter 7 (Costa Rica): After a serendipitous run-in with an old college buddy who works for a human rights organization in Costa Rica, Wendy manages to do what four Costa Rican attorneys had failed to accomplish: get Francisco freed from prison.

Chapter 8 (Panama): Wendy and Francisco flee Costa Rica and head to Colombia. Only one thing stands in their way: Panama.

Chapter 9 (Colombia): In Cali, Wendy’s daily problems include trying to deceive Francisco’s family that she really does perform housework on a daily basis and heading out to buy bread in the morning without being kidnapped.

Chapter 10 (Colombia): Wendy struggles to survive as her savings run out.

Chapter 11 (U.S.A.): After eight months in Colombia, Wendy is forced back to the United States believing that her sister is in the hospital, which is just the beginning of an elaborate series of lies constructed by her uncle.

Chapter 12 (Bolivia): Wendy has lost everything, including Francisco. She finally heads to her parents’ new home in Bolivia where she gains perspective on life, loss, love and family.