Malibu Rising is a historically set family saga that follows the lives of the Riva family. The book spans across one day and focuses on the children of Mick and June Riva, though it flashes back to their own personal lives - where the two meet and fall in love, expressing their hopes and dreams for the future - throughout the story, weaving the aftermath of their reckless choices and purposeful neglect into the outcomes of Nina’s, Jay’s, Hud’s, and Kit’s lives during August 1983.