Dan, an American painter living with his family in Paris, is surprised when his wife Susan says that she has found true love and is running away with Al Poufnique, an American poet. It is the day of their wedding anniversary, and their four kids have been planning a surprise dinner for Susan. Not wanting to upset them, Dan tries not to let on that anything is wrong, but the kids get suspicious after he spends hours sitting and staring in the living room. They ask where their mother is, and Dan says he doesn't know. He tells them that they can wait thirty more minutes for their mother, and if she isn't back by then, they'll go out to eat and then to the circus. Just then, he hears a knock on the door. A bicyclist, Amshavir Shamavoor, claims to be an old friend of Dan's and says he is cycling around the world. Dan cannot remember him and tells the man to keep cycling. Inside, Dan's children chastise him for being so rude; they watch through the window as the cyclist leaves. They go get hamburgers at a drugstore that reminds the children of the burgers back home in New York. There, a man sits at the empty seat at their table: Al Poufnique. He and Dan strike up a conversation, and it seems that Al is very devoted to his wife and their expected baby. Because they had fallen on hard times, Dan gives Al some money. The kids, suspecting something is not quite right, tell their father that they no longer want to go to the circus. As they hail a taxi to go home, Susan, their mother gets out. She tells Dan that she was about to run away but decided against it, turning Al down. She came to the drugstore to find them. Dan shows her that Al was in the drugstore and that he knew it was a bluff to let him know that she could run away any time if she wanted. The family, reunited again, decide to walk home and enjoy the surprise dinner. On their way, they see Amshivar cycling down the street. Dan thinks of apologizing and inviting him to join them but decides that it would be best not to disturb him.