It is sometime prior to World War I in Lamptown, Ohio, a working-class town filled with factory girls. (Young Nettie Farrell complains: Everytime a new man comes to town it's like dividing a mouse up for a hundred cats.) Every Thursday night women and a few men gather at the local dance hall to escape their pedestrian lives in fantasy, and sometimes to live out their fantasies. Observing all are the novel's two young protagonists, Morry and Jen.