Adam of the Road is a quest tale in which Adam Quartermayne loses everything, only to regain it after successfully
conquering the road and thereby reaching maturity. As the story opens, Adam is awaiting the
return of his father, Roger Quartermayne, a successful minstrel. Adam has been in an abbey school for five months while Roger has been attending
minstrels’ school. He is impatient for Roger’s arrival so that they can return to the road and the life of minstrelsy that Adam loves, but he is comforted by Perkin, his best friend, and Nick, his dog.
When Roger returns with his new sponsor, Adam and Nick say good-bye to Perkin and travel to London, where they remain briefly. When Roger is given time off from his responsibilities to his patron, he and Adam prepare to travel to the prominent St. Giles fair. Before their departure, however, Roger loses his prized war horse, Bayard, to Jankin in a game of dice. This sets the stage for the series of losses that will beset Adam on his travels.
On the road they again encounter Jankin, who has lamed Bayard through carelessness and cruelty. That night, while Adam and Roger sleep, Jankin escapes with Nick, leaving a message that he traded Nick for the crippled war horse. When Adam learns what has happened, he follows Jankin and Nick to the river Wey, where he sees Jankin getting away on a ferry. Adam swims after them, only to arrive on the opposite shore soaked, exhausted, separated from Roger, and no closer to Nick. Now Adam is on his own, and he begins his quest to find his father and his dog.
In Adam’s first adventure, he escapes from a robber and helps rescue an innocent merchant. Next, Adam reaches St. Giles fair, but is injured in a fall and adopted by a vicar and his sister, who take Adam’s colorful minstrel clothes and attempt to turn him into a parish clerk. When he joins a band of lower-class minstrels as a way of continuing his quest, they are discovered out after curfew and become the target of a "hue and cry." In the ensuing flight, Adam is separated from the minstrels, one of whom still holds Adam’s harp. Adam is now bereft of all of his possessions and alone again.
Adam returns to the inn where he lost Nick and picks up Roger’s trail. He follows it to London but finds Roger gone. He decides to wait for his return but encounters Jankin and learns that Nick has run away. Adam travels to their former home in hopes of finding Nick, but Perkin has just taken Nick home to his family. Adam locates Perkin’s home and finds both his friend and his dog. He spends the last of the winter helping Perkin’s farm family prepare for spring planting, earning himself a new set of minstrel clothes in payment. With the gift of a set of pipes from the local miller, Adam is ready to return to the road; stopping to bid Perkin farewell, he finds Roger, and they set out together.