Wildfire is the second installment in the Maple Hills series, set at the fictional University of California, Maple Hills, which consists of Icebreaker (2022), Wildfire (2023), and Daydream (2024). While the Maple Hills series includes many characters from the university’s ice hockey team, author Hannah Grace describes it as a college series rather than a hockey series. While the Maple Hills series consists of standalone romance novels, they are all interconnected and occur in chronological order. Icebreaker occurs during a school year and ends in April, Wildfire occurs over the summer break, and Daydream begins in the fall, which marks the start of the next school year.

Icebreaker follows the romance between hockey captain Nathan Hawkins and figure skater Anastasia Allen. Anastasia hates hockey players, and the novel employs the enemies-to-lovers trope when the figure skaters are forced to share their ice rink with the hockey team after their rink gets trashed by rivals. Icebreaker introduces significant characters in the series, including Robbie, Lola, Henry, JJ, and Russ. Wildfire follows Russ, whose past romantic fling is what led to rivals trashing the hockey rink, and Aurora. The two are co-counselors at the same summer camp following the school year concluded in Icebreaker.