In this affecting semi-autobiographical novel, the author portrays over three decades in the life of the Mason family as they struggle to survive during the lean years of the early twentieth century. Bo Mason, his wife, Elsa, and their two boys live a transient life of poverty and despair. Drifting from town to town and from state to state, the violent, ruthless Bo seeks out his fortune in the hotel business, in new farmland, and, eventually, in illegal rum-running through the treacherous back roads of the American Northwest. The novel also matches Stegner's family history in some of the specific locations lived, including Saskatchewan and Salt Lake City. The novel is named after the folk song "Big Rock Candy Mountain", which is about a mythical paradise.

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