Character Relationship Map: 1/1

Characters

• Lissa (played by Lindsey Shaw) — protagonist

  Lissa is a twenty-year-old woman whose birthday coincides with learning that she is pregnant. Overwhelmed by childbirth, poverty, family damage, and fear of repeating her parents’ failures, she confro...

• Robert (played by Judd Nelson) — supporting

  Robert is Lissa’s father, whose damaging influence and death shape the central family conflict. Before his death, he had become increasingly ill and was drinking constantly. Joan was present near the...

• Joan (played by Dendrie Taylor) — supporting

  Joan is Lissa’s mother, separated from her daughter by resentment, disappointment, and unresolved family trauma. She confronts Lissa about growing up and wasting opportunities, while also explaining w...

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Joan → Lissa (Family Mother) — Joan is Lissa's estranged mother.

  Lissa accuses Joan of abandoning her emotionally, and the doctor’s staff cannot process insurance because Lissa no longer speaks with her mother.

• Lissa → Robert (Family Daughter) — Lissa is Robert's daughter, and their family history shapes her fears about parenthood.

  The plot refers to Robert as Lissa's father and describes the damage caused by him.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Joan → Robert (Unknown Final Witness) — Joan possesses incomplete information about Robert's final period of illness.

  Joan admits that she was present on the day before Robert’s death while he was increasingly ill and drinking constantly.

Story Analysis

A pregnant young woman confronts poverty, family resentment, and an unfinished truth about her father's death.

Plot Progression

1. A Birthday In Decline — Lissa remembers Greensburg as a place marked by shrinking population, poverty, limited education, and drug overdoses. On her twentieth birthday, her uncertain future is mirrored by tension in her rela...
2. The Unexpected Pregnancy — Lissa discovers that she is pregnant during a doctor's visit. Her medical symptoms and estrangement from her mother make the situation feel increasingly unstable.
3. Fear Of Becoming A Mother — As the pregnancy progresses, Lissa imagines pain, dangerous labor, and the responsibility of raising a child. She begins to fear repeating the failures associated with Robert and Joan.
4. Mother And Daughter Divide — Lissa seeks Joan's help, but their meeting becomes a bitter confrontation about judgment, wasted opportunities, and emotional abandonment. Both women admit the depth of their disappointment.
5. An Unfinished Family Truth — Lissa presses Joan for an explanation of Robert's death. Joan reveals his illness, drinking, and a frightening confrontation, but the account ends before the full truth is disclosed.