Charles Norstadt and his family's permanent residence is in New York City. As the story of "A Man Without A Face" unfolds, the family has moved temporarily to their summer cottage on a peninsula on the Atlantic Coast. It is a cozy resort community that is comprised of small shops, a harbor, and a boathouse. The young kids of the visiting families hang out around the harbor most days. Some of the boys take dinghies to the cove. They swim there and play in the water. However, there is a dangerous undertow that runs through the cove and has taken the lives of several swimmers.