When Dave left on a backpacking trip to Europe he never imagined he’d wake up in cities that don’t exist in countries that aren’t on the map, or that all round trip tickets are actually one way. Rubber Soul is the story of a young guy who travels farther than he thought possible only to discover how much farther he has to go.
Set in 1996, Dave is reflecting on his trip before it is even over— his fumbling beginnings through the backpacker life, the alienation of the youth hostel scene, and the raucous characters that join him in bouncing between fun and trouble.
Running from danger he doesn’t understand, Dave winds up in Satu Murcia, a moody post-communist city in the Szenoromanian hills that everyone says is the “new Bucharest.” Dave finds work as a hawker for an ersatz Hard Rock Café owned by Daniel, a German-Colombian gangster. There, he rediscovers that his high school marching band gave him the skills to play in a touring Czech classic rock cover band in need of a trumpet, but somewhere in all the unreal partying, he forgets his place.
Humiliated, humbled by his mistakes, and lost on the far side of the Black Sea in dry, rugged Antalia, Dave realizes he has a second chance at everything he got wrong the first time around. Dave learns there's no trick to making friends and being the person he wants to be, and there's no reason to rush the journey.
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