Near-infrared imaging photometry supplemented by optical spectroscopy and narrow-band imaging of the H II region Sh 2-128 and its environment are presented. This region contains a developed H II region and the neighboring compact H II region S 128N associated with a pair of water maser sources. Midway between these, the core of a CO cloud is located. The principal ionizing source of Sh 2-128 is an 07 star close to its center. A new spectroscopic distance of 9.4 kpc is derived, very similar to the kinematic distance to the nebula. This implies a galactocentric distance of 13.5 kpc and z = 550 pc. The region is optically thin with abundances close to those predicted by galactocentric gradients. The $JHK_s$ images show that S 128N contains several infrared point sources and nebular emission knots with large near-infrared excesses. One of the three red Ks knots coincides with the compact H II region. A few of the infrared-excess objects are close to known mid- and far-infrared emission peaks. Star counts in J and $K_s$ show the presence of a small cluster of B-type stars, mainly associated with S 128N. The $JHK_s$ photometric properties together with the characteristics of the other objects in the vicinity suggest that Sh 2-128 and S 128N constitute a single complex formed from the same molecular cloud, with ages ${~}10^6$ and < $3 { imes} 10^5$ years respectively. No molecular hydrogen emission was detected at 2.12 ${mu}m$. The origin of this remote star forming region is an open problem.