Bobbie Ann Mason sets "Residents and transients" in a rural landscape to underscore the changes both the countryside and her characters are experiencing. Mary's parents have retired and moved to Florida, leaving her to supervise the sale of the farm and the auction of their belongings. The house will soon be lost, and it is likely that the new owners will not farm the land. Such situations were common throughout the 1980s and 1990s across the rural areas of Kentucky. More and more acres, formerly dedicated to farming, were converted to housing and shopping malls. In Graves County, Kentucky, for example, forty-two percent of all the homes in the county have been built since the 1970s.

Likewise, the demographics of the region are changing at the time of the story. Stephen represents the influx of businessmen from the North; in his case, he is a...