Kenny has effectively sacrificed his family life to work as a doctor in India. The emotional energy that he would normally expend on his nearest and dearest is instead transferred to the villagers who need his medical expertise. Dr. Kenny throws himself so completely into his work that he loses himself in it.

Despite developing an increasingly close relationship with Ruku, he still does not reveal much about his family, and even when he does, he blurts it out in a moment of weakness. Kenny tells Ruku that he left his wife and children behind to come to India. As well as showing a remarkable degree of professional dedication, Kenny's decision to leave without his family indicates that perhaps all is not well on the domestic front. Our initial suspicions are confirmed when Kenny subsequently reveals that his wife has left him and that his sons have been taught to forget him. We can safely infer from this little nugget of information that Dr. Kenny's estranged wife no longer has any feelings for her husband and that she feels very bitter toward him.