The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Mason, Daniel. North Woods. Penguin Random House LLC, 2023.

Daniel Mason's novel North Woods is set in a forested region of western Massachusetts, referred to as the north woods throughout the narrative. The novel spans three centuries and details the lives of an eclectic cast of characters. Defying conventional novelistic parameters, the novel employs the past and present tenses, poetic and narrative forms, and the first and third person points of view. For the sake of clarity, the following summary relies upon the present tense and a linear, streamlined mode of explanation.

A young couple flees their colony in New England. Although they are leaving their homes and families behind, the lovers feel safer and freer in the woods. As they run through the forest, they experience a surge of hope and possibility. Seven days into their flight, they find a clearing in the north woods that they claim as their own.

A young girl wakes in the middle of the night to discover her village under siege. She watches in horror as a group of Native peoples kills her family. She flees with her infant child. In the north woods, she finds a cabin. The woman living there offers her shelter. Some time later, a group of colonizers visits the little house, too. They tell the women they plan to kill the Natives who killed their family. To prevent their act of violence, the older woman poisons the men. One of the men shoots her before he dies. The young woman kills the remaining men. She buries the woman's and the men's bodies in the land outside before departing the house.

After Charles Osgood's wife dies, he decides to remake his life. He buys a property in the north woods. After revamping the rickety house on the property, he moves his twin daughters, Alice and Mary, to the location. Together, the family cultivates bountiful apple orchards. When Charles is forced to leave home to join the war, he is sorry to say goodbye to his apples and his girls.

Alice and Mary take over the house, property, and orchards in the years following their father's death. Although the sisters have made a life together, Alice often feels confined by their insular reality. When she falls in love with a childhood friend named George, Mary gets angry and starts chopping down Charles's trees. Alice approaches her, but Mary strikes her with the ax and kills her. She buries Alice in the floorboards of the yellow house thereafter. When she is ready to die, Mary crawls under the trapdoor and lies beside her sister.

William Teale leaves his home and family in the city and moves to the yellow house in the north woods. The setting is both relieving and inspiring. William spends his days exploring the woods, painting landscapes, and writing to his friend, a writer, Erasmus Nash. After Erasmus visits William at the yellow house, William confesses his love to Erasmus. Erasmus reciprocates his feelings and the two begin a secret love affair. Shortly after William's wife discovers the truth and leaves William, Erasmus stops responding to William's letters. William is heartbroken.

Anastasia Rossi works as a medium and a fortune teller. She does not believe in the paranormal, but finds the work entertaining and lucrative. Then one day, Karl Farnsworth requests her presence at his yellow house in the north woods. Karl's wife Emily has been hearing ghosts in the house, and wants Anastasia to perform a séance on their behalf. Because of Anastasia's skepticism, she is shocked to see William's, Erasmus's, and Charles's ghosts during the ceremony.

Lillian raises her children Helen and Robert in the yellow house in the north woods. Helen loves her brother, but has never been able to understand him. After she leaves home, she and Robert begin to communicate via letters. They grow closer as a result. However, when Robert sends Helen his manuscript, Helen discourages his writing. She insists that no one will understand his psychological experiences. Robert lives with schizophrenia and has been trying to translate his reality to his family for years. After receiving Helen's discouragement, Robert disappears.

Lillian despairs when Robert disappears. She channels her sorrow into various charity endeavors. She becomes a pen pal to prisoners. One prisoner claims to be Robert, exciting Lillian. She later learns that the writer is a fraud.

After Robert dies, Helen returns to the yellow house. She finds footage of the forest in Robert's old things. She realizes that Robert was trying to show her his hallucinations.

Morris Lakeman's wife Miriam leaves him for another man. Shortly thereafter, the Historical Society expels Morris for sexual misconduct. Feeling lonely and discouraged, Morris becomes obsessed with historical studies and detective stories. He travels to the yellow house in the north woods, hoping for an adventure. While here, he dies of a heart attack. Alice's ghost ushers him into the afterlife.

Nora drives to the north woods, eager to visit the location that inspired William Teale's paintings. On her way, a bear runs in front of her car and she crashes. She waits on the side of the road for help. Charles Osgood's ghost appears and gives her a ride to the yellow house. Nora realizes that she is dead. She joins the ghosts that live there. Years pass. The forest changes. Then one day, the yellow house catches fire and disappears.