Nearly Canaan

Jaya was a fast-rising star in Manhattan's world of financing for nonprofit enterprises when she left it all to live on a yoga ashram in the mountains. Returning to her career two years later, she finds the job market's changed. The best she can do is take a promising position in Prairie Depot and teach yoga in her free time.
Not in her plan is the hot teen working part-time in the corner restaurant she frequents. He's unlike anyone in her past, and she's soon smitten by his relentless pursuit. Josh — or Schuwa, as she's soon calling him — turns more than her head. He changes her direction. Rather than returning to the Big Apple or the ashram, they dream of moving to the wilderness of the Pacific Northwest.
When they eventually make that happen, though, instead of rain forests and waterfronts, they're surrounded by desert, a land of irrigated ribbons of apple orchards and wild asparagus. It's an alien landscape of tawny foothills that rise over their backyard. In the distance is a long wall of Cascade mountains, with a snow-capped head towering over all, and an Indian reservation in between.
While Jaya is engulfed in running social service ventures that serve migrant workers and low-income families, Schuwa lurches about in search of his own identity.
They're not exactly alone. She's become the wise woman for two other couples her husband's age. Together they participate in a spiritual circle of kindred souls and, in various combinations as time permits, explore the steep mountains and exotic destinations beyond. She's the one figure linking them all. She even expands the sexual repertoire of more than just Schuwa.
It's a lot for her to carry. Jaya finds comfort in the natural world around her, especially as the vivid geography and its arid climate take shape as a breathing personality embracing them.
Still, no matter how peaceful things may look, watch out. Their new world can be cruel.
Under it all, each partner in the three young marriages has reasons for dissatisfaction. While Jaya and two other spouses work grueling hours, there's no job security. Meanwhile, Schuwa and the remaining spouses grow restless in their own limbo. Something unnamed remains missing, even as they settle into their astonishing landscape.
Beneath one pristine summit just over the horizon, pressure keeps mounting. As for their own lives? They're soon all in a race for survival.
At last, far from their roots, the volcano explodes.
In the tragedy that follows, they must pick up the pieces as best they can. The central figure, of course, remains Jaya. Where would they go without her?