Kootenai, Idaho for a sales trip to Spokane, expecting to return in two days. Instead he disappeared; his personal effects found strewn along the south bank of the Spokane River.

Meanwhile a hobo dressed in a business suit is rousted from a freight train. He has no idea where he is and, incredibly, has no idea who he is. He assumes an alias and works odd jobs while he searches for himself. Lonely, and with no one to turn to, he writes about his trials and his turmoil in a diary.

Back in Kootenai, Helen Olson raises the family, agonizing about what happened to John. Scandalous rumors and a deathly ill child add to her travails.

Based on newspaper articles, family lore, and the diary of an amnesiac, 85 Days is a captivating tale of doubt, despair, self-discovery and triumph.