Joseph's maternal grandfather, as well as an uncle on his father's side, served as soldiers during the First World War, and Boyden draws upon a wealth of family narratives.

Set in 1919, following the end of World War I, the novel takes place in the wilderness of Northern Ontario and on the battlefields of France and Belgium.

After getting word that her closest thing to living family, Elijah, is coming back from the war, she paddles the three-day journey to meet him in town.

In an attempt to heal her only relative, who has clearly been sucked dry of his soul and has hardened with nightmares from the war and turned hollow by morphine, she begins to recount the stories of her past.

Xavier remembers specifically though, about what his aunt Niska told him about those ready for death having to walk the Three Day Road.