After everything is more or less settled with Phoebe's family, Sal's grandparents, Gram and Gramps Hiddle, suggest they take a road trip from Ohio to Idaho to see Sal's mother's grave. They take the same route that Sal's mother took when she left home on the bus. Throughout the trip, Sal tells her grandparents about Phoebe, the disappearance of Phoebe's mother, the "lunatic," and Sal's budding romance with Ben.
Sal and her grandparents travel through Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, and finally Idaho. In Illinois they stop and put their feet in Lake Michigan. Sal understands that when Gram says, "Huzza, huzza!" she is expressing joy. Her grandmother dances with Indians in Wisconsin and gets bitten by a poisonous snake in South Dakota, forcing her to spend the night in the hospital. They see Mount Rushmore and Old Faithful. By the time they get to Coeur D'Alene, Idaho, Gram is not feeling well. They drive directly to the hospital and Gram is admitted. The doctors tell Sal and Gramps that Gram has had a stroke; Gram dies early the next morning. Sal is not at the hospital when Gram dies, because she drove Gramps' car to Lewiston to see the site of her mother's accident. She then spends time in the cemetery at her mother's grave, in an attempt to memorize every detail. Sal is able to put closure on her mother's abandonment of her and can accept her mother's death. She realizes that the trip to Idaho "had been a gift from Gram and Gramps to [her]. They were giving [her] a chance to walk in [her] mother's moccasins — to see what she had seen and feel what she might have felt on her last trip."
Sal and her father return to the farm in Bybanks, Kentucky to live. Gramps is living with them and Gram is buried in the Aspen grove. Gramps has a new beagle puppy named Huzza Huzza. Sal misses her mother, but she is happy being back on the farm she loves so much.
