:S You're going to have to be more specific that that...
In a nutshell, the story looks at Sally trying to unearth family skeletons --> "emotional and spiritual pilgrimage". In fact, the best summary is probably the ... grr, forgotten the fancy word. It's not a prologue, but something tacked onto the very beginning of the story. It's a bit like a poem. Argh, now you can really tell how far I've "moved on" since my HSC...
In terms of Inner Journey, obviously there's an age gap that is shown in choice of language used, but there's so much more. "Place" could be seen as a metaphor for identity, sense of self, cultural heritage, sense of belonging...