The novel is set in Michigan, the home state of the author. This is also the setting of his first novel, The Watsons Go to; Birmingham.[6] Bud Caldwell, the main character, travels from Flint to Grand Rapids, giving readers a glimpse of the midwestern state in the late 1930s; he meets a homeless family and a labor organizer and experiences life as an orphaned youth and the racism of the time, such as laws that prohibited African Americans from owning land in many areas, the dangers facing black people, and racial segregation.[7]
One element of the historic setting is a Sundown town, where racist covenants prohibit African Americans from living and custom endangers the lives of any found there after dark. Bud meets Lefty, a well-meaning passer-by who becomes a good friend when he cautions Bud to keep him from entering a Sundown.[8]
The effects of The Depression on this area are described throughout the story of Bud's journey across the state. Bud spends an evening in Flint's Hooverville, a hobo encampment, where he comments on the mixture of races; the author points to the police presence and the tension between police and those attempting to hop trains,[1][9] their poverty and desperate migration characterizing the Great Depression.[10] The uncertainty of the era is reflected in Bud's own life, as his transience and loss of home were experienced by many migrant families and orphaned children.[11]
Jazz music and musicians are a central part of the narrative; the author was inspired to create the story by his own grandfather, who was a jazz musician during The Depression. The band Bud searches for is named for a band that the author's other grandfather played with, called Herman Curtis and the Dusky Devastators of The Depression. Bud connects to his new friends and family through the music, which is a part of his history as an African American and exemplifies the popular music of the era.[1][6][12]
