Peters and Frances are a young American couple on vacation in Germany in the late 1960s. Wanting to do something unique that they can get fun anecdotes out of, they decide to spend the summer sailing on German lakes. After an afternoon of sailing and swimming, however, Frances disappears. Peters, not wanting to leave the spot in case Frances comes back looking for him, tries to recruit help from a group of German bathers. Though he does not understand their slang or dialect, he gets four people to help him look. They all circle around the lake but don't find anything. Alone with his thoughts, Peters builds a fire and yells into the countryside. He can't help but imagine Frances's body at the bottom of the lake. Eventually he falls asleep and wakes up in the morning. He sees two officers and Frances, wrapped in a blanket, by their rented car. Elated, he goes over and speaks to the officers to corroborate Frances's story. When the officers leave, Frances tells Peters how she had wandered off trying to get a picture of a deer and then got lost. She wandered all night, hoping to find her way back. The couple leaves the lake to get something to eat, and their spirits lighten as they talk about what great anecdotes they now have to tell people back home.