How do the setting and period of the story “the devil and tom walker” make the story work? the story is set in new england in the eighteenth century, a time when people there were particularly superstitious about evil. the story is set in europe in the sixteenth century, a time when people there were very religious. the story is set in the 1700s in the dense forests of appalachia, a region where many indian massacres had occurred. the story is set in boston after the revolutionary war at a time when the new country of america was prospering.