(Sections I through V)
- Babbitt and Paul's train stops in Pittsburgh for four hours. The two of them get out to check out the sights, and Paul spends some time staring at an ocean liner docked in the harbor. He wishes that he'd gone to see Europe as a young man instead of staying in crusty old America.
- The two of them sit on the edge of the dock and discuss how much they'd love to never go back to work.
- When they arrive in Maine, they find themselves a cabin to rent and spend most of their days fishing. They don't talk much, but they revel in the fact that they don't have any wives to answer to.
- But even though times are pretty pleasant, Babbitt becomes more and more irritable as the vacation drags on. Paul, on the other hand, starts to become cheerful. Both of them are grumpy, however, when their wives are due to arrive.
- By the end of the vacation, though, Babbitt seems to recover his optimism about the coming year.