The story is set in Australia, on a five-thousand-acre sheep ranch called Wongadilla. Because people's relationship to the environment is a major theme of the story, the setting is very important. Wongadilla contains a river, creeks, a swamp, forests, and part of a mountain range. It is wild, isolated, and beautiful. Simon, who grew up in a city, is at first alarmed by this new environment. When Charlie Waters, owner of Wongadilla and Simon's distant cousin, says, "It'll be yours some day if you want it," Simon is terrified. He later learns that perhaps no one ever really owns the land, but that we are permitted to be guardians of it for a time. Simon's acceptance of responsibility for looking after Wongadilla is part of his recovery of the idea of home. He had thought home was lost forever with the deaths of his parents.