The special opens with Charlie Brown at home and he takes a book from his shelf titled "My Trip". His younger sister, Sally, approaches and asks him what he's doing. Charlie Brown tells her that he's making a photo album with pictures he took in France when he, Linus, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Snoopy, and Woodstock went there for a student exchange. Sally realizes that Charlie Brown never told her what happened after the fire in the chateau and how he got home and asks if he learned anything. From there, it is shown in a flashback: