Pecola is an orphaned penguin living with his grandfather, Pecolias. Cube Town is a small, isolated coastal village featuring an art museum, a beach, a canal, and a lighthouse marked with the number 36 above its entrance. Situated next to Crescent Bay and encircled by the Rookery Mountains coastal range, the town is supplied by regular ships—including a weekly freighter—that bring mail, food, and other provisions, as well as occasional tourists from the nearby metropolis of Cubic City. The heights above the town lead into Glacier Valley, which remains snowbound even in summer.