Once You Go Back Chapters & Outline
Buckey, a 30-year-old, successful landscaper designer, lives part of life amidst the lavishness of his super-rich clients' world. He has worked hard to shed his rural upbringing and comfortably inhabit a lavish world. The life he has carefully cultivated takes a turn when he moves to rural Georgia at the request of a retiring Hollywood celebrity. His assignment is to create gardens worthy of the starlet’s opulent estate.
Assembling a crew in the desolate town means taking extreme measures — like working with a coyote and enrolling in a Spanish language immersion school in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic.
Buckey soon finds himself embarking on a transformative journey that leads him to unexpected, magical places. Warmly embraced by the locals and indoctrinated in their male-dominated culture, he encounters an authenticity he’d never had. As he delves into the wild, untamed landscapes of Hispaniola, his perspective undergoes a profound shift.
The lives of his super-rich clients seem at odds with the genuine connections he forms with these men. As Buckey embraces his freedom and success, he grapples with racial prejudice, social and economic disparities, and his own involvement with undocumented people.
His journey is set against a rugged forest of cacti and thorns and soaring mountain ecosystems where cloud forests slip into the crystal blue Caribean.
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19