Dobry is set in a small mountain village beside the Yanta River in nineteenthcentury Bulgaria before the time of automobiles and mechanized agriculture. Dobry, his mother, and his grandfather do most of the work of cultivating the fields; their oxen are used for plowing, hauling, and other heavy farm work. The villagers pasture their cows in the nearby mountains and take their grain to a nearby village to be ground into flour. The narrative follows Dobry's development from the time he is young enough to enjoy cleaning pots for a gypsy to when he is old enough to leave for art school in Sofia.