In the scorching summer of 1976, free-spirited Francesca Malone finds solitude on a remote mining claim in Northern California-until an eco-activist friend from the city turns up uninvited and roils local hotheads. Observed by the nearest neighbors, a crusty cattle rancher and a young California Indian family, Francesca feels exposed.

Hardships lead to friendships and shadowy alliances in a fire-prone landscape beset by old conflicts, new cults, and the ruin of ancient forests and Indigenous sacred sites. Drawn into the fray over logging, Francesca takes a crucial stand.

Some Greater Awakening is an elegy to the beautiful, fought-over mountains of the West, and their long-suffering yet indomitable people.