[1][2][3] It concerns three generations of Armenian American women living in Memorial, Connecticut during the twentieth century.

Rather than focus on a central character, the book contains the story of three generations: the grandmother Casard, her daughter Araxie, and granddaughter, Seta.

The struggles faced by each woman show the enduring effects of the Armenian genocide which occurred in 1915 at the hands of the Young Turks.

A major theme in both Edgarian's work and Armenian-American literature is the ability to reconcile the genocide, lost identity, and displacement of the past to life in present-day America.

In Rise the Euphrates, this reconciliation is symbolized in the recovering of Casard's lost name, Garod.

The Turks invaded Garod's town of Harput, murdering the men and raping many women and girls.

Later, under the care of nuns, Garod is given the name Cafard, which is a French word meaning melancholy of the soul.

While at Ellis Island, Casard meets, and after an afternoon of courtship, marries her husband Vrej; another exiled Armenian.

However, one generation removed from the genocide has left Araxie near Casard's pain to achieve the type of reconciliation Seta is capable of.

A few weeks after her mother's death, Theresa is abducted and severely beaten by a well known member of the town.

That night after playing the duduk with Theresa, and wholly embracing her Armenian heritage, Seta dreams of the women who were at the Euphrates River the day Casard forgot her name.

The characters discover their Armenian heritage through interactions with fathers and grandfathers rather than mothers and grandmothers.

Edgarian names several betrayal myths in her book, among them, the biblical stories of Cain and Abel, and Judas and Christ.