The story takes place, except for a brief epilogue, in the Shaker community of New Vale, Massachusetts, from April 27 to May 9, 1854. The inhabitants of New Vale keep strictly to themselves. Their sole contacts with the outside World occur when curiosityseekers come to view the Sabbath rituals, and when a selected few Shakers take the group's products to market.

The Shakers need little in return except the money and news they get from the World's folk, since they maintain a self-sufficient, hardworking communal settlement.

Besides buildings for various purposes, a Holy Hill exists on Shaker land for the observance of Mountain Feast days. Shakers observe rituals that include periods of prayerful silence, processions in perfect rows to meals, and meetings and ceremonies that include the frenzied dancing or "shaking" that gave the group its popular name. Shakers sing hymns of praise for love and freedom, while their lives are...