Stranger Things season 4 is mainly set in which month and year?

Stranger Things season 4 is mainly set in March 1986. It begins eight months after the battle at Starcourt Mall, which concluded the third season in July 1985, and follows the characters during spring break.

The season divides its story among several locations. Hawkins, Indiana, is dealing with a series of supernatural murders; Eleven, Mike, Will, and Jonathan are connected to California and Nevada; and Hopper’s storyline takes place in a Soviet prison camp. Despite those different settings, the timeline remains centered on March 1986.

A common mix-up is confusing the season’s setting with its release dates. Netflix released season 4 in two volumes, in May and July 2022, but the story itself takes place decades earlier. The season also includes flashbacks to earlier periods, especially Eleven’s childhood at Hawkins National Laboratory, which can make its chronology seem broader than the main present-day storyline.