Geographically the story is confined to a small area near the Thames River in South Kensington, a suburb of London; it is the shift in time that makes the setting unusual. The story ostensibly opens in the year of its telling, 1895, in the home of the unnamed time traveller.

As the traveller takes over the role of narrator, the machine moves him into the year A.D. 802,701. Society has evolved into two races, the upper-world Eloi and the lower-world Morlocks. The narrator remains in the future for a week, during which time most of the action occurs.

As the time traveller explores the upper world, he frequently refers to the Thames, which has changed its course slightly since 1895, and to neighboring places, but he is primarily concerned with the idyllic rural surroundings and seeming innocence of the world's childlike inhabitants. He interprets the apparent ease and good health...