Setting

The novel is set mostly in the fictional town of Grace, Arizona, although some scenes take place in the Santa Rosalia Pueblo, also fictional, in New Mexico. Codi's first sight of Grace on her return gives a good picture of its almost idyllic beauty:

The view from here was orchards: pecan, plum, apple.
. . . The trees filled the whole valley floor to the
sides of the canyon. Confetti-colored houses perched
on the slopes at its edges with their backs to the
canyon wall.

An abundance of wild peacocks strut around the orchards, and the whole town exists under a "shamelessly unpolluted sky." The only flaw in the landscape is a man-made one, the old copper mine: "On the cliff overlooking the valley, the smelter's one brick smokestack pointed obscenely to heaven."

Economically, Grace survives by means of its orchards and the railroad, which provides employment for the town's men...