At first Viola and Viljo's childhood days were almost idyllic. They had parents who loved them, older sisters who tolerated them, and their grandmother, Susanna; who could be quite strict at times, but obviously doted on them. From a young age, they had learned a lot about the various flora and fauna on their land from their mother, Ida and they enjoyed the hikes and picnics that they shared as she patiently shared her knowledge with them. Their father, Einar brought home a black, Labrador puppy and they had almost limitless freedom, with few restrictions, to play their games, explore the wilderness, forage for wild berries and to go fishing and wading in the creek nearby. Things tragically change however when their mother, Ida becomes ill and passes away not very long after giving birth to their baby brother Eino. Viljo and Viola are then for the first time in their lives separated and unhappily sent to stay with different family members while their father has to go away for the winter to work at a bush camp. They are reunited again in the spring but find that they must grow up in a hurry when their older sisters leave home to go and work in the city and their elderly grandmother dies. Their father does odd jobs for farmers in the area but finds that he can't earn enough money to make a living and after much deliberation decides that he will have to go back to work in the logging camps for a few months. After stocking the cupboards with food supplies and ensuring that they will have enough firewood for the wood stove, he departs, leaving his son, thirteen year old Viljo in charge of his nine year old sister Viola. The children are now completely alone at the homestead in the wilderness until their father's return. Together, they persevere with the difficult day-to-day chores of cooking, keeping the wood stove going and carrying in water, as well as dealing with the great unpredictability of nature, finding inner reserves of strength that have never been tested before. Being so young, they also find the time to turn tedium into play and even manage to find humour in their day to day struggles. The days and nights become filled with stark fear when they gradually become aware that Frank, the misshapen, emotionally disturbed hermit, who lives a few miles distant, in the thickest part of the woods is furtively lurking around their homestead, and watching them, even at night. While doing their best to cope with this frightening turn of events, they remain totally oblivious that an other unearthly presence also observes and listens and is never very far away. They have no one to rely on but themselves when terrifying occurrences begin to escalate out of their control as they desperately wait for their father, Einar to come back home. Strange Township is an actual place in Northwestern Ontario and the characters in this story are actual people.