The central narration of David and Jonathan is set on Cape Cod in the 1950s during the Korean War. Henry Marr and Jonathan Nafiche attend Orleans High and live within biking distance of each other. Henry's home, a sprawling clapboard cottage on Beach Road, has been inherited from a distant relative, and little has been done to make it cheerful or attractive. Jonathan describes Henry's living room as "aesthetically unfit for human life." Henry agrees with Jonathan, but his parents seem oblivious to its drabness.

Jonathan's family lives above the restaurant they run in Eastport. Their apartment is dominated by the kitchen, a large room cluttered with utensils and staples, that reverberates with the activities of the Nafiches. It is a room for talking, for making family decisions, for sharing the strudel Mrs. Nafiche bakes each Sunday afternoon.

Henry finds Jonathan's home a welcoming haven until the presence...