The story begins in Bluff City in November, 1914. This small midwestern town has an up-to-date high school, complete with an electric bell system and a freshman class that has as rigid a social structure as the town itself.

Out-houses, early automobiles, traveling shows, and styles of dress reflect the setting of this early twentieth-century town.

Peck feels that the young are curious about the past, so he uses not only an historical setting, but also an Egyptian history project to give insights into another era and culture. Due to Blossom's gift of time travel, a portion of the book takes place fifty years earlier in an ancient tomb near Luhan, Egypt.