Urrutia agonizes over what books to bring for the journey to Là-bas and whether to wear his cassock or layman’s clothes. He departs by train, convinced that divine trials await him. Urrutia’s somewhat hazy recollection suddenly becomes crystal-clear as he recalls the idyllic sight of the Chilean countryside out the train window. His recollection again darkens as he remembers the deserted village, Querquén, in which he arrives. Birds seem to screech the words “quién, quién, quién” (8) (who, who, who), and Urrutia beseeches the Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit not to abandon him to nature.

As if from hell, a derelict carriage appears over the horizon to convey Urrutia to Là-bas. He suffers a brief moment of trepidation when the driver doesn’t recognize Farewell’s name, before realizing he only knows Farewell by his given name. Triumph washes over Urrutia as he leaves Querquén and the birds behind.

In the stately library of Là-bas, Urrutia finds Farewell discussing poetry with a young poet. Animal heads, trophies of Farewell’s father, are mounted on the walls. Intimidated by the conversation and frightened by Farewell’s wild, Pan-like demeanor, Urrutia leaves to walk the estate’s gardens. Drawn instead to the surrounding forest, he stumbles on the cabin of three of Farewell’s farmhands. He enters without waiting for a reply to his knock. Addressing him as Father, the peasants welcome him warmly. To his apparent surprise, Urrutia realizes he’s still wearing the dusty cassock he traveled in and worries he’ll give a false impression of himself at dinner in front of Farewell and his literary guests.

The peasants seek Urrutia’s counsel about a dying child. Their poorly-worded appeal (Urrutia cannot tell whether the child is sick or dead) annoys him, but he hides his contempt under overwrought praise of the bread they feed him. For an instant, Urrutia glimpses the wizened youth in the doorway; however, at that time in the late 1950s, Urrutia reasons that the youth would’ve only been five or six. Urrutia perfunctorily blesses the house and returns to the estate house, which appears as a luminous refuge amid the darkness. Despite having time to change out of his cassock, Urrutia doesn’t.

Drawn into the gardens by a faint noise, Urrutia finds Pablo Neruda (widely regarded as Chile’s best poet) beneath a pergola, addressing verses to the moon. Urrutia remains hidden, awed by the scene. The narrative shifts briefly back into the present as Urrutia raises himself up on his deathbed to challenge whether the wizened youth has ever experienced such a scene. Confessing to having read the wizened youth’s work, Urrutia says he found no beauty, only obscenity and violence, “hell and chaos” (14).

Urrutia returns to his recollection of his first night at Là-bas. Asked about his cassock at dinner, Urrutia explains he didn’t have time to change. After a lavish meal and too much liquor, Urrutia goes outside to look at the moon and quell his nausea. Farewell approaches him, and Urrutia blushes. As Farewell asks Urrutia whether he has read various 13th-century Italian poets, he fondles a nervous Urrutia. Farewell mocks Urrutia for not knowing the Italian troubadour Sordello, repeating Urrutia’s words, “Sordello, which Sordello?” (15). These words become a refrain that Urrutia repeats throughout the novella. As Farewell continues to fondle Urrutia while praising Sordello’s bravery, Urrutia recalls the woes that God inflicts on unrepentant sinners in the Book of Revelation.

Neruda interrupts them. He is also ignorant of Sordello, but, unlike Urrutia, he responds to Farewell’s smugness with an insult. Farewell gives Urrutia a look telling him that it’s more important to be well-read—and to write criticism—than to write poetry. Farewell and Neruda reconcile, recite some poetry, and return inside with Urrutia, where he and the other guests toast Farewell as Chile’s best critic and Neruda as their best poet. Urrutia sleeps well.

On Sunday, Urrutia goes for another walk in the forest, buoyed by the refrain “Sordel, Sordello, which Sordello?” (18). At first awed by the serenity of the forest, Urrutia begins noticing what is missing. Suddenly, he encounters two naked children tilling an orchard. The sight of the boy looking at him with snot stretching from his nose to his chest sends Urrutia into a retching fit. The children disappear, and Urrutia continues through the messy farmland, finding solace only in a towering araucaria tree that seems placed there by God.

Venturing further, Urrutia stumbles on a semicircle of five peasants standing with their hands covering their faces. They are from the neighboring estate and have travelled there, Urrutia imagines, to see the priest—him. They greet Urrutia warmly; he’s repulsed by their ugliness and shared expression, “A patience that I feared was not Christian resignation […] A patience that seemed to come from outer space” (20). Urrutia declines a woman’s offer to escort him back to Là-bas, barely containing his mocking laughter over her incongruous use of the formal verb “to escort.”

Alone, Urrutia marches back to Là-bas. There, he finds another sublime scene: Neruda in the gardens reciting poetry for the group. Urrutia returns to Santiago feeling that he has been inducted into the literary sphere.