Content Warning: This section contains references to the murder of George Floyd and child abuse.

The cast of characters in Our Country Friends is predominantly connected through relationships built in their younger years. Senderovsky and his wife meet as children while Senderovsky, Vinod, and Karen meet in high school. Each of these characters is the child of immigrants, and their relationships with their parents, defined by moments from their childhoods and adolescences, impact their adulthoods. For the trio of high school friends, their parents’ abuse unites them, and they depend on each other to push forward through dark times. Karen remembers the ways in which they depended on each other during their formative years and how that helps them to be the adults they are today: “And on and on, her own heart breaking alongside his. At their lowest moments, they always overcame their parents’ programming, always offered each other more than they had ever been given” (102). The treatment by their parents instilled in these characters volatile emotions and dim expectations for family, leading them to find solace in each other. During difficult times at home, Vinod, Karen, and Senderovsky turned to each other for the support their parents did not give.