The story takes place in a small, remote North Carolina town with two churches—Baptist and Methodist. The most dramatic scenes occur in the vicinity of the drug store where Pete meets the Preacher Man and where the preacher meets Darlene who works there. It is also in this general area that Pete sits on the wall waiting for the Preacher Man until he finally realizes that he has been abandoned. The church is the scene of the frenzy of the revival where people cry, faint, and are born again.