Set in the Salinas Valley, California, East of Eden brings to life the intricate details of two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, and their interwoven stories. The story is primarily set between the beginning of the twentieth century and the end of World War I, though some chapters are set in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and the story goes as far back as the American Civil War. Samuel Hamilton is a warmhearted inventor and farmer. He and his wife Liza, immigrants from Ireland, raise their nine children on a rough, infertile piece of land in the Salinas Valley. As the Hamilton children begin to grow up and leave home, a wealthy stranger, Adam Trask, purchases the best ranch in the Valley, and the story of two families begin to entwine. The book explores themes of depravity, beneficence, love, the struggle for acceptance and greatness, the capacity for self-destruction, and of guilt and freedom.