The story of We Were Not Like Other People takes place in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s and the early 1940s. The places that are mentioned, though not explored explicitly, bear names such as Minsk, Kiev, Moscow, Orel, Leningrad, the Urals, and Siberia.

The scenery is integral to the story and brilliantly described; it is inclusive of snow-covered mountains, green, grassy plains, forests, farms, steppes, wheat fields, refugee shelters, and the Kuznetsk Coal Basin. Institutions such as the home, the school, military commands, factories utilizing child labor, refugee camps, and dugouts are all part of the backdrop for the major action and themes of the novel. The places, nature itself, and the personalities of the characters establish the mood of the story. The foreboding presence of a communist regime and the throes of an approaching war and war itself cannot be escaped.

We Were Not Like...