Across Five Aprils takes place on the farm of the Creighton family in rural southern Illinois during the American Civil War. Jethro, the youngest Creighton child and the main character, is not quite ten when the story begins. As war comes and Jethro's older brothers go away to become soldiers, Jethro assumes responsibility on the farm. His father suffers a severe heart attack, leaving Jethro to manage almost all of the heavy work. The war never reaches this quiet part of the country, but the Creightons' barn is burned because one of their sons has gone to fight for the Confederacy. Deserters from the Union Army hide near the farm, forcing Jethro to make a moral decision.

The action of the novel moves forward against a backdrop of changing seasons.

The return of spring each April is particularly important to the changing season motif. Hunt recalls Walt Whitman's...