Elizabeth Gilbert writes herself as the main character. She describes her search for spiritual enlightenment following a nasty, gut-wrenching divorce. She quits her job as a journalist and decides to take a year off her fast paced New York life to do some much needed soul searching. She spends four months in Italy, in the pursuit of pleasure, four months in India, in pursuit of spiritual balance, and, four months in Indonesia living with a medicine man while trying to find the balance between pleasure and devotion. She learns to love herself and accept God into her life.