When recently widowed Ruth Newcombe abruptly leaves her wealthy Michigan life for Mérida, Yucatán, her family wavers between frustration and fear at her disappearance. As Ruth quietly explores the Yucatán Peninsula—and forms friendships with anthropologist Claire Aguila and Mérida’s expatriate community—Ruth’s daughter Debra and granddaughter Lucy race to Mérida, only to uncover a truth far more complicated than they imagine.

Meanwhile, Claire’s family and her former Keane College colleagues have arrived to celebrate Claire’s marriage to Detective Salinas, their romance rekindled years after they first met. As Claire and her friends become involved in Ruth’s disappearance—and their search unfolds—Claire faces her own crossroads, navigating cultural tensions and questions of identity ahead of her marriage.

Against the vivid backdrop of Mayan history, expat reinvention, and Mexican family traditions, Rites of Passage reveals how three generations of women confront loss and identity, and gain the courage to choose a new path.