प्लॉट

Sheldon's trip comes to an end when he is robbed, Penny interviews for a job at Bernadette's company, and Howard is weirded out by his mother's relationship with Stuart.

Forty-five days after leaving Pasadena to regroup after a series of unwanted changes in his life, Sheldon telephones Leonard to come pick him up in Kingman, Arizona, where he is currently stranded as all his possession were stolen. Leonard decides to ask Amy to come along on the twelve hour round trip drive. Beyond explaining what he did on his time away and if it achieved its goal of redefining his life, Sheldon has some more precise explaining to Amy about one specific more immediate matter. Penny didn't go along on the trip as Bernadette got her a job interview as a pharmaceutical salesgirl with her company. Penny is apprehensive and not confident about the interview, doubting her own abilities. The result of the interview doesn't go quite as she expects. And now that Mrs. Wolowitz's cast has come off, Howard expects Stuart to move out of her house, which he doesn't. Howard, who has no idea the nature of his mother and Stuart's relationship, still feels uncomfortable about it and decides to confront Stuart about it.—Huggo

Sheldon (Jim Parsons) is at a train station wearing no pants, no shoes and one sock looking quite disheveled after being robbed. He tries to tell random people that he is a physicist and that he is not crazy though everybody he meets acts like he is.

Penny (Kaley Cuoco), with her new short haircut is doing yoga in apartment. Leonard (Johnny Galecki) gets a call from Sheldon who is at the Kingman, Arizona police station and asks Leonard to come and get him. Penny can't come with him because she has a job interview and doesn't want to hear Sheldon complaining about her short hair for six hours.

Howard (Simon Helberg) is taking Raj (Kunal Nayyar) to work since his car is being worked on. He is having his windows cleared of tint so the world can see his hot girlfriend. Howard is explaining that Stuart (Kevin Sussman) is supposed to be moving out of his mother's house since she's fully healed. Its creepy, more like Raj and his dog. They call each other "Debbie" and "Stewie". Raj wonders if Howard is worried that he is being replaced as her son or that she may becoming her lover, which really bothers Howard.

At the police station, Sheldon inquires about his stolen possessions and lectures Officer Hernandez on Sherlock Holmes and his investigation techniques. Sheldon reminds him that there are lots of Sherlock Holmes books and no Officer Hernandez books. Amy (Mayim Bialik) and Leonard are en route to get Sheldon. She is glad to have come, but is peeved that Leonard was called instead of her.

Penny is with Bernadette (Melissa Rauch) just prior to her interview and is nervous since she hasn't had a job interview in years. Bernie describes Penny's good points and can only come up that she is cute and funny. It seems that selling pharmaceuticals is like being a waitress pushing the bad stuff onto the customers. Bernadette talked her up to Dan (Stephen Root) and wouldn't have done it if she didn't think she could do the job. Penny wants to cancel. Bernadette realizes that she wants to do something she's good at, and angrily suggests getting her a job at the "sitting-around-in-your-yoga-pants-doing-nothing-factory".

Howard and Raj enter his mother's house. Stuart comes in confusing Howard since he thought Stuart had moved out. Stuart was going to, but since he still has no place to go, he and Debbie decided that he should stay especially since they get along so well. Howard wonders why his mother hadn't spoken to him about this arrangement. As Stuart is leaving he tells Howard that maybe he should call home more often. Note that Raj is obviously still seeing Emily (Laura Spencer).

Sheldon is staring at Officer Hernandez who claims that they are doing everything they can while he is munching on Doritos. Amy and Leonard show up. Sheldon excitedly hugs Leonard and wants to know why Amy came. Amy reacts that he is her boyfriend and that she just drove six hours to help him out. Sheldon calls "Shotgun" and runs towards the car.

On their way back, Leonard asks Sheldon to tell them about his trip. He went to New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, Seattle etc. When asked how he liked those cities, he explains that he never left any of the train stations. He never left the stations or had a single piece of fruit.

Penny is at her interview with Dan as a pharmaceutical sales representative and keeps explaining that she likes people over and over. When asked how her previous job experience prepared her for sales, she tells the interviewer that she convinced many large customers to order extra cheesecake; one person that even had an insulin pump. The interviewer uses an insulin pump.

Howard says he's unhappy about a man in his thirties, though Raj thought he was 45 (he's actually 39), living with his mother. Raj says that since she is lonely and he needs a place to stay what is wrong with that, besides who cares. Howard decides to call her to raise his objections. He doesn't get her; however, the answering machine has a message from both his mother and Stuart on it.

During the interview, Penny is asked how she would suggest to someone to switch from a competitor's product to their company's drug. She stares for a moment and then tells him that she could offer the client a bikini car wash. Penny doesn't want Bernadette to know how badly she failed at the interview because she's scared of her. The interviewer thought he was the only one scared of her. He didn't want to meet with Penny, but was afraid to say no to her. Penny also couldn't say no to Bernadette when she got her the interview and feels that she is something of a bully. When the interviewer had to tell Bernadette that her project was being cut, he couldn't do it to her. Penny got the job.

Amy is upset on the drive back. How could he have left her without even saying Parting goodbye and then call Leonard instead of her. Sheldon wants to have a private moment with Leonard and asks Amy to cover her ears. He then claims to want to have coitus with her just to see if she can hear him. Sheldon didn't want to call Amy because he didn't want her to know that he couldn't make it on his own. Sheldon says that he feels that way since Leonard supposedly idolizes Sheldon and nothing could knock him of the pedestal Leonard has put him on. Leonard just tells Sheldon that he should tell Amy. He does and Amy replies that she knows he is not perfect and that she is fine with that. He asks for another private moment as Amy covers her ears smiling. Sheldon then tells Leonard that he wants to breakup with her.

At Howard and Bernadette's, Howard says that he never thought he would say this, but he is missing Sheldon. Bernadette also says that she never thought she would say this, but Penny got the job. Stuart shows up, saying he felt that Howard wasn't all right with him staying at Howard's mother's house. Howard agrees, and tells him that he is living there rent-free and that he has no motivation to go out and get a job. Stuart notes that Howard is not his father. He then mentions "your mother and I" and Howard accuses him of being his father. Bernadette calms the waters and reminds both of them that "nobody is anybody's father". Howard accidentally calls Bernadette his mother before correcting himself.

Walking up the stairs, Sheldon says that he wishes he never went on the trip. Amy tells him to consider it as an adventure which appeases Sheldon. He feels he was a caterpillar that has emerged as the world's smartest butterfly. Penny greets Sheldon and he sees that she cut her hair, causing him to leave again, being unable to deal with the change.

Finally, Sheldon is showing Leonard and Penny the pictures he had taken on his trip, including those of a train bathroom he had visited and the Imodium he took so he wouldn't have to use the toilet. Then he talks about how he almost died in a fire in Des Moines, but he stayed put, and that's when the Imodium gave out.

Title reference: Sheldon's train adventure is interrupted when his belongings are stolen.