Animal Dreams Summary

The narrative starts with Doc Homer, a father reminiscing about his young daughters, Codi and Hallie, following their mother's death. The tale then shifts to Codi's perspective after Hallie departs their home in Tucson, Arizona, to aid the newly formed communist government in Nicaragua with farming. Promptly following this, Codi ventures back to her small hometown, Grace, to look after her sick father and work as a high school biology teacher. Returning to Grace is burdensome for Codi due to her sense of alienation and her strained relationship with her father. Her homecoming revives multiple enigmas about her family's history, including her inability to practice medicine despite attending medical school, her mother and child's death, and her family's connection to the community.

During her stay in Grace, Codi resides in her friend Emelina Domingos's guest house and rekindles a romance with her high school love, Loyd Peregrina. Simultaneously, Grace faces a significant threat when the local mine contaminates the water supply essential for the community's survival with sulfuric acid. The community's elder women take matters into their hands, creating piñatas to raise awareness about the issue and sell in Tucson. As Codi participates in the community's preservation efforts, she unravels her family's past, debunking her father's claim that they were outsiders in Grace.

Throughout this, Codi and Hallie maintain close contact through letters until Hallie gets kidnapped by US-backed Contras, plunging Codi into a whirlwind of depression and frantic efforts to find her sister. During this time, the community's preservation efforts gain widespread publicity, leading to a potential solution to their water contamination problem. Codi discovers her deep family roots in Grace, aiding her sense of belonging despite not intending to stay beyond her teaching contract. Tragically, Hallie's body is found, and Codi returns to Tucson, only to come back to Grace, where she holds a commemoration for Hallie and confronts the remaining secrets with her father. Ultimately, she discloses her past pregnancy to Loyd, and a year later, she is pregnant again, still teaching at the high school following her father's death.