The album was inspired by an Anne Briggs EP titled The Hazards of Love. According to the band, frontman Colin Meloy set out to write a song with the album's title—eventually leading to an entire album. Becky Stark (of Lavender Diamond), Shara Worden (of My Brightest Diamond), and Jim James (of My Morning Jacket) provide guest vocals throughout the album,[19] while Robyn Hitchcock makes a cameo guitar appearance in "An Interlude".

The Hazards of Love is a rock opera, with all songs contributing to a unified narrative, similar to the use of recurring stories in The Crane Wife. The plot is a love story: a woman named Margaret (voiced by Stark) falls in love with a shape-shifting boreal forest dweller named William (voiced by Meloy). William's mother, a jealous fairy queen (voiced by Worden) and the villainous Rake (also voiced by Meloy) bring conflict to the album's story arc.

1. "Prelude" (Jenny Conlee)

2. "The Hazards of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistles Won't Wrestle the Thistles Undone)"      

3. "A Bower Scene"            

4. "Won't Want for Love (Margaret in the Taiga)" 

5. "The Hazards of Love 2 (Wager All)" 

6. "The Queen's Approach" 

7. "Isn't It a Lovely Night?" 

8. "The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid" 

9. "An Interlude" 

10. "The Rake's Song" 

11. "The Abduction of Margaret" 

12. "The Queen's Rebuke/The Crossing" 

13. "Annan Water" 

14. "Margaret in Captivity" 

15. "The Hazards of Love 3 (Revenge!)" 

16. "The Wanting Comes in Waves (Reprise)" 

17. "The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned)"