Summary

Nadia and Saeed manage to find a spot of land high on a hill in Marin, where they build a small shanty with a corrugated metal roof and packing crate for sides. Nadia finds work with a food cooperative outside Sausalito. One night, Nadia brings home weed that she scores from a coworker. Though she is worried about how Saeed will respond, he reacts positively and they smoke the joint together. Meanwhile, Saeed attends a Friday prayer service led by a widowed African American preacher whose wife came from the same country that Saeed did. Inspired by the man’s “soul-soothing wisdom” (198), he gets involved with the local congregation. He also finds himself attracted to the preacher’s daughter whose mother came to the United States from his own country.

More background is given on Saeed’s relationship to prayer, which he views as...