The main part of the story takes place in the Otago high country, around the lakes. The names of the places where most of the action happens are fictionalised, but the descriptions are loosely based on real locations in that area. Other New Zealand locations that feature in the book include Auckland and Wellington.
Some of the action takes place overseas, in the fictional English towns of Lynstoke and Middledean, and in the real World War 1 battlefield of Zonnebeke, Belgium.