Tareq Taylor learns to cook authentic tamales with women who have fled across the border from Mexico in search of a better life. Carina Bergfeldt revisits two boys she met after a school shooting to see how they are doing five years later. She and Tareq also go to Carina's best friend's home in the US and of course there will be real Texas BBQ.

Carina Bergfeldt visits the giant New Orleans jail while Tareq Taylor visits a chef who has been in prison for over 20 years but now runs his own restaurant. They take a boat ride through the Louisiana swamps and end up at a desolate blues club in the middle of nowhere.

Carina and Tareq's journey across the US has taken them to the poorest state where even clean water is scarce. However, there are still people who are hopeful and love their state. Tareq experiences real soul food and Carina takes him to a blues club where he is in for a big surprise.

Carina and Tareq stop in the small town of Kennesaw where the law says every household must own at least one firearm. Tareq Taylor tests survival food while Carina Bergfeldt attends a course for women who want to learn how to handle firearms for self-defense. Finally, they meet a mother who has paid a high price for the country's liberal gun policy.

Carina and Tareq have arrived in Nashville, the final destination of their journey, a city where dreams are both lit and extinguished. Carina and Tareq meet two women whose careers have taken them in different directions. Charismatic chef Daryl JW Mackin invites them to a camp for children who have lost parents in war.