The Weatherhouse takes place in a small fictitious town in Scotland named Fetter-Rothnie. Many of the men have left in pursuit of war, and the women who remain have become accustomed to living in a female-dominated community. As in The Living Mountain, the sense of place is built vividly from the outset, and Shepherd's imagery is beautiful. She writes, for instance: 'On the willows by the pool the catkins were fluffed, insubstantial, their stamens held so lightly to the tree that they seemed like the golden essence of its life escaping to the liberty of air.'