The setting, specifically when the story takes place, is unusual in that it moves fluidly between past, present, and future. Louise anchors her narration in the present moment, which she describes as the most important moment in her daughter’s life. It is the moment when her first husband is about to ask her if she wants to make a baby with him. From there, Louise goes on to describe the past events that have led up to this moment and the future events the flow from it. But importantly, Louise does not tell the story in chronological order. This is because in the present moment, Louise has already become proficient in Heptapod B. Therefore, she is telling the story of her daughter’s life as she, Louise, is experiencing it, nonlinearly. This is not immediately apparent to the reader, and the past, present, and future initially appear to occupy very distinct places in Louise’s mind. But as the story progresses, and Louise explains in detail the effect Heptapod B has on her perception, the past, present, and future begin to blur. Louise seems to be unstuck in time, moving between past, present, and future as she is reminded of events from each. Chiang’s mechanism for developing the time setting mimics the way Louise’s new mode of experiencing time develops. Just like the heptapods’ perception of reality, there is not really any distinct past, present, or future. The story of Louise’s daughter’s life is one complete expression, for which there does not necessarily need to be a linear order.