Anglican priest Peter Owen Jones goes back to a basic way of life, abandoning the frenzy of spending and working in the hope of deepening his connection to nature and his parishioners. Over eight months he turns his back on consumerism and enters a period of `voluntary poverty', renewing his skills as a gardener, chicken-keeper, woodcutter and dishwasher.

Peter Owen Jones continues his search to find the answer to a more simple and meaningful life. He meets a Franciscan friar in Canterbury who shows him where he has gone wrong.

Peter has become too self-sufficient and will only find the answer to a simple life if he leaves the comfort of his parishes and throws himself at the mercy of complete strangers, just as St Francis did. Peter sets off on a two-week road trip with little more than the clothes he is wearing, begging for food and accommodation as he goes.