The episode takes place almost entirely over a single day, telling three stories in a non-linear narrative.
Peggy has a rough day, both personally and professionally. Abe accuses her of always having her mind on her work. At the office, Don and Megan leave for an impromptu trip upstate shortly after turning up, leaving Peggy to front the latest presentation to Heinz. Raymond's not impressed, and Peggy vents her frustration at him, causing her to be dropped from the account. After a couple of drinks, she leaves the office to go to the cinema, where she has a sexual encounter with a stranger. Back at the office, she runs into Ginsberg and his father, who are arguing. She falls asleep in Don's office, only to be woken up by a call from Don, who seems alarmed for no discernible reason. Ginsberg tells her that he is from Mars, even though the official story is that he was born in a concentration camp and adopted by the man he calls his father. Affected by this story, she goes home, calls Abe and asks him to come over.
Roger, hoping to get out of a dinner party with some of Jane's friends, invites Don on an impromptu trip to a Howard Johnson's motel in upstate New York. Unfortunately for him, Don decides to go with Megan instead. The dinner is hosted by Jane's therapist and her husband; the reason Jane wanted Roger to go with her is that the group is going to take LSD and she didn't want to do it without him. Roger is initially unimpressed with the drug, but his attitude changes after he experiences several vivid hallucinations. Back at their apartment, he and Jane talk candidly about their marriage, and mutually agree that it's over — although Roger later admits that he's never felt more connected with her.
Don takes Megan to the Plattsburgh Howard Johnson's on a mix of business and pleasure, sending mixed signals about when he wants a co-worker and when he wants a wife. Megan gets frustrated, and they fight. After she makes a disparaging remark about his mother, Don goes for a drive, and when he returns, Megan has gone. He works himself into a frenzy, calling Peggy (the other side of the conversation we witnessed earlier) and even Megan's mother. Eventually, he drives home and finds her there, having taken a bus home. After an intense confrontation, they make nice ... for now.
Back at the office the following morning, Bert admonishes Don for being on "love leave" and expresses his amazement at how so much work has been done given how distracted Don has been since he married Megan. After Bert leaves him alone in the conference room, Don looks through the picture windows at the employees going about their business. Roger, full of enthusiasm, pops into the room and tells Don he has an announcement: "It's going to be a beautiful day!"
Tropes Appearing In "Far Away Places"
- Anachronic Order: It's the same day — told, re-told and then re-told again from the points-of-view of Peggy, Roger and Don.
- Bros Before Hoes: Roger groans when Don elects to take his wife along on an outing intended just for the two of them.
- Call-Back: To "Tomorrowland"; when Don is driving back to try and find Megan, he has a Flashback to when he was driving Megan and the kids home from after their time in California, and he starts whistling the song Megan had taught the kids in that episode because he admits he couldn't get it out of his head.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Michael Ginsberg reveals his father is not actually his real father — he was adopted at the age of five — and that he was born in a concentration camp. He apparently rationalises this by claiming to be a Martian who has simply been told that this is his background.
- Deadpan Snarker: Bert, when he confronts Don about his recent lack of productivity and the reason for it:Don: It's none of your business.Bert: This is my business.
- Do Not Do This Cool Thing: In-universe; Roger, while tripping out, is told not to look in the mirror. He does, of course.
- Everybody Must Get Stoned: Roger, Jane, Jane's therapist and two other party guests do LSD.
- Friendship Moment: While Peggy and Ginsberg are both working late in the office, the latter opens up about his background.
- Instant Seduction: Of a sort, between Peggy and the strange man she encounters in the cinema. After they share a spliff, he puts his hand on her thigh. She removes his hand — but then proceeds to give him a hand-job.
- Mushroom Samba: Roger and Jane go through one thanks to taking LSD. After Roger hallucinates about seeing Don at the party and imagining himself playing in the 1919 World Series, he and Jane have a moment of mutual lucidity, realising that they don't want to be together. He did not imagine Jane speaking German, although she says it was actually Yiddish.
- Shout-Out: The movie Peggy goes to see is Born Free.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: The episode follows a day through Peggy, Roger, and Don's points-of-view.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Bert gives a relatively mild one to Don, informing him that he hasn't been doing enough work since he's gotten married to Megan:Bert: A client left here unhappy yesterday because you have a little girl running everything ... You've been on love leave. It's amazing things are going as well as they are with as little as you are doing.
