Crossroads

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness, death, and addiction.

Indya is the protagonist of Crossroads and the character who experiences the most personal growth throughout the story. Her story is told through the lens of past and present, and the narrative shits between these two time periods, revealing more about Indya and why she is the way she is. Indya’s story centers around her father’s illness and death, her love for West, and her sense of obligation to revive the ranch that both her father and West loved. Indya acts as the catalyst for Renewal Through Second Chances by bringing the ranch back to life, and she experiences Personal Growth Through Confrontation With the Past by returning to that place and to the man she loves.

The story opens with Indya’s return to the luscious and unforgettable Montana wilderness and the ranch that defined her childhood summers: “Every vacation to Montana came rushing back, replaying on loop. Campfires and s’mores when I was eight. Wildflower picking when I was nine. Paper airplanes at eleven. A broken heart at twenty-three” (3).