Unfortunately for Chelley, getting to New York leaves her spent. While all around her are hustling editors and making deals for their latest books, Chelley has nothing to sell. In the meantime, her husband Ted, who at first opposed the Love Train, has a sudden change of heart. After seeing Chelley's picture in Newsweek Ted realizes that "my wife has done something that the average person walking down the street, or the average person in Hollywood, couldn't do." As Chelley prepares to return home from New York she vows never to attend another romance conference without a completed manuscript "under my belt." The vow is soon broken; Chelley's passion for romance novels getting the better of her. A few months later we see her at a romance conference in Anaheim as she stands in line with other dedicated fans, waiting to have copies of Janet Dailey's latest novel autographed by the author. Chelley concedes that she was never really after the money, and that she did everything, including the Love Train, "all for the love of it." The Love Train has taught her that "I can do anything if I put my mind to it."

The Love Train and Chelley's story are the threads for this documentary probe into the world of romance novels, where romance is not just a bed of roses, but a hotbed of social and ideological discord. Authors and editors debate how much sex there should be in books, what type of hero and heroine is acceptable, and how to write about kissing. There are wild success stories, a cynical journalist looking for a man, a mock wedding, and a trainload of aspiring writers hoping that romance will be the ticket to fame and fortune.

Where the Heart Roams was produced, directed and edited by George Csicsery, who began to research the subject for two magazine articles he published in 1982. The film was shot by noted San Francisco Bay Area filmmaker and cinematographer John Knoop. Original music for Where the Heart Roams was composed by Mark Adler, one of the most talented young score composers (then) in the San Francisco Bay Area, and a film director in his own right. Mark Adler also conducted the Love Train Symphonette in his own arrangement of music to accompany Barbara Cartland's performance of the songs "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" and "Love is My Reason."