The Long Walk is an annual competition in an alternate, militaristic America. On May 1st of every year, 100 teenage boys set out from the border between the United States and Canada on U.S. Route 1, and proceed south through Maine along the highway until it merges with Interstate 95. Each participant in the Walk must maintain a steady speed of four miles-per-hour. Falling below that speed results in a warning, which the Walker carries for an hour before it falls off. Walkers are permitted three warnings; any Walker who receives a fourth warning within an hour is shot on the spot.