North Woods follows the inhabitants of a single house in New England over the course of several centuries, from the earliest American colonies to the present day.

The home's inhabitants and visitors include a set of Puritan lovers, twin sisters, a crime reporter, a cougar, and a pair of mating beetles.

"[7] The Wall Street Journal was similarly positive, complimenting the plot and prose but offering slight criticism towards the structure, writing that "a shift makes for a very different novel and, in this reader's opinion, a less exciting one.

"[8] Library Journal, Shelf Awareness, and Booklist all directed praise at the novel's characters, with the latter describing them as reinforcing "the dual nature of the human condition.

The Boston Globe wrote that some of the epistolary devices scattered throughout the book were "more fanciful than fulfilling" and criticized Mason for not engaging more with historical inequities throughout the plot.