The concept of kinship is central to the Dakota way of life and also central to the novel. Kinship demands extreme closeness among members of a family and families within the camp circle. Having relatives is extremely important: “To be cast out from one’s relatives was literally to be lost” (20). Blue Bird feels lost in her adoptive camp circle as does Waterlily in hers since they are away from their relatives. However, there are “social parents” (186)who effectively adopt someone without relatives and treats her as their own. Waterlily is better able to relax around her social parents than she is around her in-laws.

Kinship also contains prescribed roles among members of a family. There is a special closeness between brothers and sisters, and they are always loyal to each other. The novel exemplifies this through the relationship between Waterlily and her stepbrother Little Chief. They are close, and it is Waterlily’s duty to bear the scalp of the first person Little Chief kills in a ceremonial parade. Blue Bird experiences this brother-sister closeness from an outsider perspective after she marries into Rainbow’s family: “A smart wife conducted herself circumspectly so that her sisters-in-law would approve of her entirely and would defend her” (59).