Three Men in a Boat was originally intended as a serious travel guide to capitalize on the boating craze that was sweeping England but the comedic passages over-shadowed the text and it became a sensationally popular comedic adventure.
The main characters, George, Harris, Jerome are based on the Jerome himself and two of his friends. Montmorency, a fox terrier dog is a fictional artifact added by Jerome. The story revolves around a boating holiday up the River Thames, from Kingston upon Thames to Oxford. Despite numerous prior misadventures while camping, the three men decide that camping will be part of the holiday.