Though the process is standard and she is merely surrounded by doctors and nurses, Hummingbird Girl is plagued by images of hummingbird doctors who are throwbacks to early Victorian alienists. Having experienced disabling anxiety, conflict with her own sexuality, and the death of her second child, she is at the end of her ability to contain her grief. In the midst of treatment, she finds herself surrounded by hallucinatory images of iconic women, engaged in calling upon a saint to come to her aid.