Neither the time nor the geographical location of Jackaroo is ever specifically identified, but we learn in the opening pages that women are in a subservient role. Gwyn first appears among the other women who have come to the Doling Room to receive a portion of the food being distributed to the needy. She knows that "men don't come to the Doling Room. The shame would be too great for man to carry."

This is a society of unbending rules and fixed class structures. The Lords, the Earls, and the King are the ruling class; the "people" are their subjects who have no choice but to pay their taxes and obey the laws of the rulers.

Gwyn lives at her father's inn, and her family has more wealth and security than most of the "people" who live in huts and suffer much when crops are poor and taxes...