On vacation at a safari in Kenya, Rolph and Charlie observe their father's burgeoning relationship with a PhD student named Mindy. Charlie resents her, and so tries to flirt with locals to agitate her father, Lou. Lou complains to Rolph that women are crazy, though Rolph, a shy child, is hesitant to accept. The whole group takes a jeep out into the brush. Many of them compete to see the craziest animals, and Albert, their guide and driver, takes them to see a pride of lions feasting on a zebra and napping. The group goes crazy; while most of them stand up out of the jeep to take pictures, Albert and Mindy flirt quietly. One tourist, Chronos, steps closer to the lions for photographs, and the mother lion pounces. Albert shoots the lion, rescues Chronos, and takes everyone to their next destination, a hotel in Mombasa. At dinner, Rolph gets tired, and Mindy offers to bring him to his room. Albert follows, and Rolph is confused about why Mindy is being so cold and evasive to Albert; it makes Rolph angry. He tells his father about it the next day, and Lou becomes even angrier in a way that Rolph doesn't quite understand. Charlie tells Rolph that Lou will marry Mindy, even though Rolph protests that they don't love each other. Later, Lou does marry Mindy out of a competitive spirit channeled against Albert. Mindy agrees out of a boredom with her life as a poor student in a crowded apartment, and she gives up her studies to have Lou's kids. Rolph stops talking to his father as an adult and commits suicide at 28. Charlie, who spent her twenties traveling recklessly and devoting herself to bad boyfriends, goes back to her full name, Charlene, and goes to law school. Mindy regrets giving up her education and goes back to school in her forties. On their last day in Africa, Charlie and Rolph dance together, and everyone remembers this night as a beacon of perfection in a life gone wrong.