The action takes place in rural Sussex, England, in the 1890s. The people there are country folk whose concerns focus on their land and the weather. It is winter, and the snow on the ground provides an important method for tracking the Invisible Man; his footprints in the snow can give him away. Griffin spends much of his time in rented rooms above the local tavern, and his secretiveness makes him the object of curiosity and rumor among the tavern-goers.