Snow Falling on Cedars is the story of love and innocence in a prejudice society. The author, David Guterson, chose to add a distinct setting and important symbols to show how prejudice ruins lives. The plot is about the relationship of two lovers that could never be, due to the society they lived in, and about the persecution of an innocent man.
             The story mainly took place in the 1950s on the island of San Piedro off the Coast of Washington, except for some flashbacks, which occurred in Japan, California, and other parts of Washington. Guterson chose to place his story on a small isolated island so that the residents of San Piedro would have a more secluded environment where everyone in the town was familiar with each other. There were two main races on the island; white and Japanese. There was always a sense of separation between the two. Since the story took place right after World War II, there was still some hatred by some of the whites towards the Japanese.
             When Carl Heine was found dead, the first suspect, Kabuo Miyamoto, was first seen as guilty. Carl Heine was a local fisherman and Kabuo was accused for the murder because a battery identical to the kind Kabuo had on his ship was found on Carl's ship. Also Carl had a wound on his head that was supposedly made by Kabuo. Since Kabuo was Japanese, his culture believed that a man's emotions should never be shown. When he was in the courtroom, his emotionless face made the jury automatically believe he was guilty.
             During the trial, Ishmael Chambers, a reporter, thought about his past. Ishmael once had an intimate relationship with Kabuo's wife, Hatsue, before the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1946. They had a secret relationship until the Japanese citizens of the island were sent to internment camps, where Hatsue met Kabuo. Ishmael stayed heart-broken when Hatsue cut off their relationship. She believed they could never be together in the envir...