One of the things Emmy struggles most with throughout the novel is feeling at home in her hometown after she has upended her life in Denver. The idea of home is evoked in the novel’s first sentence when Teddy threatens Emmy by saying, “Clementine Ryder, I swear to god, if you’re going to mope all night, I’m taking you back home” (10). Ironically, at this point in the novel, Emmy does not feel as if she has a home. Emmy never felt like she belonged in Meadowlark, even though she and her family were beloved by the community. She took the first chance she got to leave when she went to college, afraid that if she stayed, she would be stuck there. Emmy keeps all of these feelings with her until she returns to Meadowlark at the most tumultuous time of her life. Yet when everything around her is changing, Meadowlark feels “predictable” and “comfortable.” Because of this, Emmy is surprised when she feels at home upon returning, saying, “I thought I would feel trapped, like I did years ago. But I didn’t. I felt blissfully normal” (13).

Meadowlark continues to surprise Emmy as she feels more and more at home there, symbolized by her venturing out from the ranch more often as the novel progresses.