The story takes place in three locations on a barren farm belonging to a farmer named Paul and his wife Ellen. These two characters serve as the protagonists and there are no other characters who utter any dialogue. The couple has one child, an infant who is not mentioned by name. The farm is located in the middle of the Canadian prairie during the Dust Bowl era of the Great Depression. The majority of the action occurs in the kitchen of a two-room farmhouse, with a stable and the open plains serving as secondary locations. The entire narrative spans the course of a few hours in a single day—beginning at noon and ending in the early evening. While the action of the story is unfolding, a massive—howling dust storm churns outside. The storm is loud and causes the entire environment of the farm to be covered with dust. It makes it difficult and dangerous to breathe and causes tension between the two main characters. The storm and its winds drive forward the theme of Nature as a Physically and Psychologically Destructive Force, bringing desperation, isolation, and death.