- Ted's still not ready to date months after his breakup with Robin. But when Robin returns to New York with an exotic new boyfriend, he decides it's time to finally do something adventurous.
- Ted is going through his usual mourning process after his break-up with Robin. Barney encourages Ted to get out of mourning and become his "wing man" once again, but Ted isn't sure when he'll be ready to date. He decides the time has come when Robin, who went away to Argentina for her mourning phase, comes back to New York with a new boyfriend, an exotic Argentinean masseur named Gael. Ted wants to show Robin that she is not winning the break-up. So while going out with Barney to pick up women, Ted hooks up with Amy, a woman not generally Ted's type as she's a bit wild and lives on the edge. Meanwhile, Marshall and Lily have a double date with Robin and Gael, but Marshall and Lily, as Ted's best friends, vow it's only so they can learn to hate Gael, which ends up being a difficult thing for them to do. As Gael may become a permanent fixture in their lives, Ted comes to the realization that he needs to have some closure to his and Robin's break-up.—Huggo
- Future Ted tells his children that, although they know the short story (involving a yellow umbrella) of how he met their mother, there is a bigger story of how he became the man he needed to be in order to meet her.
This story begins back at Lily (Alyson Hannigan) and Marshall's (Jason Segel) wedding, just as Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) finishes his word "...dary!" and he tries to get Ted (Josh Radnor) out to help him "conquer New York" but Ted says he is not ready yet, prompting Barney to ask when he will be ready. Ted misses the Nassau County pageant (they are the judges, and their votes are for sale), finish line of the women's 10K (sweaty girls on an endorphin high), female acrobats from Montreal (super flexible)
After the break-up, Robin (Cobie Smulders) went to Argentina while Ted grew a beard and painted the apartment. When Robin returns with her new boyfriend Gael (Enrique Iglesias), Ted announces he's finally ready. Gael is a joyful person and his life philosophy of bringing joy to others is a natural woman magnet. He is a masseuse to top it off and with an exotic accent.
Ted decides that Robin is trying to win their break-up. Marshall backs up this theory by explaining to Lily about the winner and loser in each break-up, so Barney takes Ted out to help him win by getting Ted a 12 (given that Robin is a 10) but Ted gets a 12 on his own, a tattooed girl called Amy (Mandy Moore).
After Gael had mentioned his passion for windsurfing and making love "sometimes at the same time", Barney insists this isn't possible as he has a list of 33 vehicles (land-based, aquatic and airborne) in/on which it is possible to have sex and a windsurfing board is not on the list. He claims to have had sex on 31 of the 33 vehicles and would only need a bobsled and the Apollo 11 space capsule to complete the list. Lily says that to get the last one he will need to break into the Smithsonian.
Meanwhile, Lily and Marshall are having a night in with Robin and Gael after Lily inadvertently asked Gael out on a double date. Lily has a huge crush on Gael. Lily and Marshall are supposed to be supporting Ted by hating Gael, but both end up falling for Gael as he plays the acoustic guitar, gives massages and sensually feeds fruit to everyone else.
On the night out with Ted, Barney clashes with Amy about everything (he didn't get to assist Ted in getting Amy, so he wants try somewhere else) and insists that he should be helping Ted as he is his wing-man but Ted is solely interested in Amy. Barney gives in to one request from Amy, for everyone to go back to her place, when she mentions that she has a hot tub. It turns out, the hot tub isn't Amy's, but belongs to a family who she used to nanny for and who are supposed to be in the Hamptons. Ted decides to get a tattoo himself to symbolize that he is winning the break-up but blacks out shortly after, while Barney leaves with a friend of Amy's to have sex.
The following morning Ted claims he had a good time the night before and is relieved that he did not get a tattoo. Lily and Marshall spot a butterfly tattoo on Ted's lower back and call Barney to come and see. After cluing Ted into his new stamp, the night's proceedings come back to Ted but he gets distracted by finding a bottle of Spanish massage oils, and asks Lily and Marshall about it.
Lily and Marshall explain what happened in the apartment the night before, which annoys Ted who goes to see Robin and accuses her of being over their break-up too fast. She says she cried for three days at the start of her holiday about missing Ted, which led her to Gael. Ted is still upset that Gael is so attractive, calling him an Adonis and the Cadillac of rebound guys, but Robin cheers him up by explaining that Ted is "bigger" than Gael, which leads Ted to tell the guys at the bar that he has won the break-up. Future Ted says the turn of events led to something good coming his way - someone passes by MacLaren's carrying a yellow umbrella.
At the epilogue, Barney is called up in his office by Marshall, who is back in the apartment with the lights turned off. He asks him to open a website, slap-countdown.com. As Marshall suddenly hangs up, Barney is left screaming "Noooooooo!" upon seeing the countdown clock at roughly 55 days left to the Slapsgiving slap.
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