The town of Struan is situated near a lake that is never named in the book. Nonetheless, the lake becomes a strong symbol of the north country and the idea of Struan itself. Ian describes it as Struan’s “only asset” (13) and says that it’s deep and clear, representing a kind of clarity that many of the novel’s characters are seeking in their lives. At the same time, it’s a large body of water, fifty miles long and surrounded by granite hills covered with “spruce and wind-blasted pines” (13), which calls up an image of ruggedness that mirrors the more rugged characters of the book like Arthur and Pete.

Arthur Dunn’s farm is an anachronism even before the time Ian comes to work on it. Arthur, refusing to use a tractor and still plowing his fields with a team of horses, is considered eccentric in an age when most farmers have switched to tractors. The farm becomes a symbol for a way of life that is threatened throughout the book. When WWII starts and many farmers are forced off their land because there’s no one left to work it, Arthur turns to POWs to help him and the farm becomes the things that unifies them even as, in the larger world, America and Germany fight.