The novel is set in the small town of
Santo Stefano Belbo, in
Piedmont, north-west Italy (Pavese's real-life birthplace). The protagonist, known only by his nickname of "" ("Eel"), has returned to his home town in the immediate
Aftermath of World War II. He left twenty-five years earlier and had made his fortune in the
United States. Returning to his home town, he finds many of the same smells and sights that filled his youth, but he also finds a town and its inhabitants that have been deeply changed by war and by the passage of time. ==Awards and honors==