The events take place in Providence, Rhode Island, during the 1920s. At the beginning of the novel, Providence is depicted as a paradise, where the "slanting sunlight touches the Market House and the ancient hill roofs and belfries with gold, and throws magic around the dreaming wharves where Providence Indiamen used to ride at anchor." As the innocent Ward learns more about his dark past, the depiction of Providence darkens until it becomes a mixture of the "wondrous or dreadful as the case may be." When Ward brings Curwen into his life, Providence also becomes corrupted, and ghouls emerge from the shadows to rob its graves. Lovecraft shows that evil in the individual, if unchecked, spreads to corrupt the environment.