Allister and Gede's retirement plan: savor their remaining years on the pond behind their home and enjoy the visiting birds and butterflies while drinking tea in Gede's garden. Together they experience their final challenge-Allister's journey into dementia, where the fragments of a life become a masterpiece of love. In the quiet of their Georgia garden, Allister remembers his life-a career teaching literature at Columbia, decades together with Gede in New York City, traveling the world, to Rome, to Venice, to London, and so many places with lifelong dear friends-the only way he can: in fragments. As Allister's lucid moments give way to those of confusion and loss, decimating a lifetime of memories, Gede transforms from lover and husband to witness and caregiver. Through this last passage of their life together, both men discover an even deeper meaning of love.
