A Taste of Daylight is set in Bedford, a small city in southern Indiana, during the Great Depression. For Seely, Bedford is a large city, an exciting place with neighbors, school within walking distance, new friends, new responsibilities, and opportunities. She and her family live in a rented carriage house with a large living area and a small bedroom for her mother with the kitchen beyond. Seely sleeps in an open loft above the kitchen and Robert on a daybed in the large open room downstairs.