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Quentin realizes that Margo is missing
After a crazy night of pranks with Margo Spiegelman, Quentin realizes that she did not show up to school then next day. -
Police show up to question Quentin
The police ask Quentin questions about Margo Spiegelman's whereabouts. She has ran away from home many times before, but since she is now 18, there is nothing that the police can do to force her back home. Her parents are devastated. Quentin does not reveal much. Later that day Quentin notices a poster hanging in Margo's window. -
Quentin enters Margo's room
Since seeing the poster, Quentin decides to investigate. He believes that Margo has left him clues as to where she is going. Quentin links the poster to a song to a book to a poem. He believes that Margo left these for him to find. The poem is "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman. He will then spend the next several days reading this poem, deciphering its meaning -
Quentin flies off the hinges
After interpreting the line "unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs," Quentin realizes the next clue Margo left for him. She hid an address behind one of the door hinges in Quentin's room. The address reads 8328 Bartlesville Avenue. -
Quentin drives to 8328 Bartlesville Avenue
Quentin fakes being sick so he can drive to the address Margo left for him. He goes to this address with his friends Ben and Radar. Once they arrive, they come to an abandoned mini-mall. They break into it and find messages from who Quentin believes to be Margo. Once inside they find holes in a wall that look like tack holes and a message written on the wall saying, "You will go to the paper towns and you will never come back." Quentin believes that Margo might commit suicide. -
Quentin is on the road again
Taking the message Margo left at the mini-mall and the clues found there, he drives to all the "paper towns" in the area believing that one of them will contain Margo, most likely dead. -
Quentin makes one last effort
Quentin rethinks all of the clues. While doing so, he sees a post on a website that leads him to believe Margo posted it. He decides to gather his friends, skip gradruation, and make a trip to Agloe, New York. -
After 19 hours of driving
After 19 hours of driving, Quentin and his friends find Margo holed up in an old barn, writing. Margo explains that she never wished to be found and that Quentin should not have come looking for her. After a lengthy talk and a kiss, Quentin and Margo go there separate ways, and Quentin is still left wondering who is the real Margo Spiegelman
