 As the novel is set partly in France and partly in the French colony of Réunion, Sand had to base her descriptions of the colony, where she had never been, on the travel writing of her friend Jules Néraud.Indiana is the story's heroine, a young noblewoman descended from French colonial settlers from 
Île Bourbon (now La Réunion) and currently living in France.Indiana is married to an older ex-army officer named Colonel Delmare and suffers from a variety of unknown illnesses, presumably due to the lack of passion in her life.