♪ [1940's music] ♪

[NARRATOR] Let's look in on America's perfect family: the Joneses.

Why, just look at their amazing life!

Safe, secure jobs.

Social respect and admiration.

A growing family.

Home ownership!

New model cars.

And a gourmet kitchen.

Yes, the Joneses are living proof that if we're willing to follow the same trusted path...

[RECORD SCRATCH]

What! How did we ever buy into that...myth?

Since we have been young, we have been indoctrinated to follow a prescribed formula.

You have to get a degree.

And get the best job that you can.

The white picket fence...

The big-screen TV...

2.5 kids...

The babe, the boat, the bucks. The job, the six figures.

Work for forty, fifty years...and then retire.

I did all of the things that were expected of me

at the expense of my dreams.

Every Monday I would walk on the beach, and put my iPod in, and...

wonder what was wrong with me.

I was like: I live by the beach. I have a great job, all this money.

I'm so lucky right now.

And yet, I'm freaking miserable.

And I was on the road 3 to 4 days a week.

And I just remember thinking: I did not sign up to be a single parent.

Every single day, I would come home and I would

tell Betsy, I'm like, I cannot do this anymore. I cannot do this. I can't do this anymore.

When you're climbing the ladder and you get to the top

and you realize you have it leaned up against the wrong wall.

I didn't even know what the right wall was.

[CRYING] And I'm 32 and it, it feels like I should have that...figured out.

These people DO live these lives of quiet desperation. They WISH things were different.

They need Life to shake them and say,
"Wake the f**k up!"

"This is not the way you've got to live!"

"There's something better out there."

♪ ♪

♪ [5 FILMMAKERS] ♪

[10,000+MILES] It's only when you start making choices for yourself

[42 days] that you can live your OWN dreams
instead of 'The American Dream'.

♪ [ON A JOURNEY] ♪

♪ ♪

♪ [TO FIND A NEW PATH] ♪

[TO FIND A NEW PATH] I'd be happy,

but I would not know

[TO HAPPINESS] what it was going to be like to keep this happening.

♪ [TO HAPPINESS] ♪

[CHUCKLES]

♪ ♪

♪ [JULY 2012] ♪

[JULY 2012] I don't know what's around the corner for me.

♪ [JULY 2012] ♪

[JULY 2012] I have never been so fulfilled not knowing.

♪ ♪