An emigrant ship is stranded on an island. The people took possession of the island and gave it the name "after the sound made by the beams when the village was built". Since then, the settlers have been living independently on the island, apparently without contact with the outside world. The characters of the comic are the descendants of these stranded emigrants. The wreck of the ship serves Backbert and Steuerbert as dwelling. The Fetzensteiner are former pirates who also suffered shipwreck off the island and nestled in the already existing castle.

The lifestyle and clothing of the people on Knax suggests that the emigrants probably came to the island during the Renaissance . Whether the comic plays in the present or in the past is unclear. Didi and Dodo are the only kids on the island and the only ones wearing modern clothes. They live together and do not seem to have any parents or guardians on Knax.