Content Warning: This section features discussions of emotional and physical abuse.

Both Alexis and Daniel are the last members of families with legacies that go back 125 years. The Montgomerys are a well-known and prestigious family of surgeons and doctors who hold sway over the Minneapolis medical community, as there has been at least one Montgomery working at Royaume Northwestern Hospital since its opening. Similarly, the Grants have lived in Wakan for generations and have had a major impact on its thriving community, with a member of the family being honorary mayor for the 125 years that the iconic Grant House has been standing. Despite the two family’s cultural and geographical differences, Jimenez draws overt parallels between the legacy of the Grants and that of the Montgomerys in terms of both length and precarity, as both Alexis and Daniel consider leaving their legacies behind.

However, Alexis and Daniel are influenced by their legacy in very different ways. The Montgomerys prize power and prestige, and although their profession revolves around helping others, their legacy mainly bolsters their own image. This self-absorption explains why Alexis, who values the outward focus of her work as a doctor, experiences her family’s expectations as “a life sentence” (33).