Gravely Falls, North Carolina is the physical setting for this story; the temporal setting—the time frame—is less explicit but clearly contemporary.

Gravely Falls is a good-sized municipality with a bustling Chamber of Commerce; when reading this novel, we sense that all residents contribute to the livelihood of their town.

Much of the action, for M. V., occurs in Bradley's Bakeshop, a new business owned and run by a young married couple, Brad and Rachel Bradley. With the bakery, several locations around town assume significance for M. V.; among them, the Millhouse Restaurant and Talley's Beach. Finally, as home to Martha Venable from age six to age sixteen, Aunt Gert and Uncle Milt's house hosts many of the most dramatic moments in this tale.