Chiaki conducts his last piece with the Rising Star Orchestra and contemplates how he even got there in the first place. With Nodame still away in Okawa, Chiaki is urged to persuade her to return to piano by visiting her home town after the concert. Chiaki and Nodame share an intimate moment at the riverbed as her father catches sight of them from his boat. Chiaki and Nodame will be looking forward to seeing each other in Europe. The pieces performed in the episode are Symphony No. 7, Op. 92 by Ludwig van Beethoven and Piano Sonata D845 by Franz Schubert.

Chiaki and Nodame arrive at Paris to hone their musical skills. While he who had lived in France before easily adapts himself to their new environment, she must face some difficulties herself, including having to learn the country's language.

Nodame's first recital becomes a huge success, to the point of her receiving other proposals for job.

Chiaki's popularity ahead of the Martlet Orchestra keeps increasing while Nodame gets depressed as she feels the distance between them growing and she decides to enter in a competition by herself, even without her teacher Auclair's approval. Pieces featured: Bach's Concert No. 1 in D minor, Romeo and Juliet's Overture-Fantasy by Tchaikovsky, Études Op. 10 No. 8 and Op.10 No. 12 by Chopin

After Chiaki and Rui's concerto, Nodame and Chiaki spend the night together and she proposes to him in the following morning, just to be rejected by him. However, Chiaki starts to wonder about how serious she was at that time, and Stresseman pays a visit to her. Pieces featured: Piano Concerto in G major by Maurice Ravel and Third Movement of Piano Sonata No. 31 by Beethoven