Satsuki Matsumae, a 38-year-old journalist and mother to Ohana Matsumae, specializes in critiquing hospitality venues—a stark contrast to her family’s stewardship of the historic hot spring inn Kissuisō. Her abrupt choice to flee with a boyfriend escaping debt collectors uproots Ohana’s life, compelling the teenager to reside with her estranged grandmother, Sui Shijima, at Kissuisō. This decision echoes Satsuki’s pattern of prioritizing career over motherhood, leaving Ohana to cultivate self-sufficiency from childhood.

Decades of conflict with Sui fractured their relationship, culminating in Satsuki’s disownment and her deliberate distancing from Kissuisō’s legacy. Professionally, she embodies disciplined ambition, often immersed in writing, yet privately leans on Ohana for domestic support, revealing a paradoxical blend of independence and reliance.

The death of her husband 15 years before the story’s events deepened her emotional withdrawal, anchoring her focus on work as both escape and identity. Though her critiques of inns clash ironically with her family’s trade, this dissonance mirrors her fractured ties to tradition. Her parenting oscillates between absence and oblique guidance, using life’s adversities to impart resilience to Ohana.

While Satsuki’s narrative unfolds through fragmented memories and strained interactions, her impact on Ohana’s evolution resonates throughout the girl’s struggle to reconcile family history with her own path, framing Satsuki as a catalyst for themes of legacy and autonomy.