So, almost from the very beginning O. Henry drives our attention to the two most important parts of the setting: the story takes place on Christmas, and its two main characters live in a very frugal appartaments in a gray city. The following actions of the story depend on the fact that Christmas is coming, thus Della needs to buy a special present for her love-one now, even with an extremely small amount of money. The couple's very unassuming dwelling shows their being reduced to poverty vividly. It's their misery and wish to present something valuable to each other both force them to make the sacrifices they do, and which makes those sacrifices meaningful and wise. The author depicts the flat with such details that convey an image of its "mendicancy squalor": it's cheap ($8 per week), sparsely furnished, and has broken mailbox and doorbell.
To my mind, this drabness of the surrounding setting in which Jim and Della live forms a contrast with the
heartiness and depth
of their love and devotion for each other. The fact that everything outside
the appartaments is cold and "grey" – Della watches a "gray cat walking a gray fence in a
gray backyard" – develops the contrast even further. Inside, on the contrary, we feel, that the couple's affection creates a warm love nest, in
spite of the flat's humble nature. The season, which the events take place also plays a big role, and Christmas time also creates an atmosphere of warmth, wonders, and family love, it makes the story more Magian.
As for the wider "where and when," we can suppose, that the story is set in a city of New York – "flats" are the kind of thing we often associate with cities. From the "gas" which Della
lights and the equipment she has (i.e., a stove and curling irons),
it is possible to claim, that the story is set just about the time O. Henry
wrote it (first decade of the 20th century), or a little bit earlier.
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