The story takes place in Rio de Janeiro, capital of the Empire, during the Second Reign. The action begins in November 1857, when Bentinho hears José Dias's denunciation in the house on Matacavalos Street, and runs up to the return of Ezequiel as an adult, long after 1872. In between are the marriage, in March 1865, and the death of Escobar, in March 1871.
The one who writes is Bento Santiago, old, in Engenho Novo, near the end of the nineteenth century: he himself says that the century "is expiring." The book came out in 1899, but it recounts events some forty years earlier. Pedro II's Empire lasted until 1889, and slavery, which organized the life of every household in the book, was only abolished in 1888.
The places appear by name: Matacavalos Street, the Passeio Público, Tijuca, where the couple spend their honeymoon, Glória and Flamengo, where the two couples live, and Engenho Novo, from which the narrator travels by train to and from the city.