New York City

Both Laura and Maurice live in a square city block of one another. Laura routinely walks past panhandlers all of the time, but for reasons she isn't aware of until much later, she stops for Maurice. New York is a place of dreams made, and dreams lost. The setting is a perfect backdrop for everything that takes place.

Symphony Apartments

This is the apartment complex where Laura lives. She eventually brings Maurice there and he comes to regard it as a second home. It is the first place where he has a complete meal to himself, learns how to blow his nose, has his clothes washed for him, and learns how to cool. It is also where he learns to trust.

The Projects

The welfare hotel, as Maurice calls it, is a government housing project that is about a block from Laura's high rise apartment complex...