When Simon Brown reconnects on Facebook with his first love Sylvie - the French pen pal he never actually met - he is determined that this time things will be different. However, life isn't so straightforward at sixty as it was at sixteen. His daughter's getting married, he's got difficult guests staying at his B&B, and his larger-than-life schoolfriend Ian has abruptly waltzed back into his life. Adamant that he can't let this second chance pass by, Simon sets off on a bike ride from Bristol to Bordeaux with Ian in tow, on the very same route they covered as teenagers in pursuit of love. But although they now have better bikes, more acceptable haircuts, and Google Maps, some things never change, and it soon becomes clear that this trip will have even more bumps in the road than the first.