diff --git a/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerRetryHelper.java b/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerRetryHelper.java
index e22a0f7485..9c49efe2f1 100644
--- a/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerRetryHelper.java
+++ b/google-cloud-spanner/src/main/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerRetryHelper.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 
 package com.google.cloud.spanner;
 
+import com.google.api.core.ApiClock;
 import com.google.api.core.NanoClock;
 import com.google.api.gax.retrying.ResultRetryAlgorithm;
 import com.google.api.gax.retrying.RetrySettings;
@@ -24,6 +25,7 @@
 import com.google.cloud.RetryHelper.RetryHelperException;
 import com.google.cloud.spanner.v1.stub.SpannerStub;
 import com.google.cloud.spanner.v1.stub.SpannerStubSettings;
+import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
 import com.google.common.base.Throwables;
 import com.google.spanner.v1.RollbackRequest;
 import io.grpc.Context;
@@ -45,25 +47,36 @@ class SpannerRetryHelper {
    * retrying aborted transactions will also automatically be updated if the default retry settings
    * are updated.
    *
+   * <p>A read/write transaction should not timeout while retrying. The total timeout of the retry
+   * settings is therefore set to 24 hours and there is no max attempts value.
+   *
    * <p>These default {@link RetrySettings} are only used if no retry information is returned by the
    * {@link AbortedException}.
    */
-  private static final RetrySettings txRetrySettings =
-      SpannerStubSettings.newBuilder().rollbackSettings().getRetrySettings();
+  @VisibleForTesting
+  static final RetrySettings txRetrySettings =
+      SpannerStubSettings.newBuilder()
+          .rollbackSettings()
+          .getRetrySettings()
+          .toBuilder()
+          .setTotalTimeout(Duration.ofHours(24L))
+          .setMaxAttempts(0)
+          .build();
 
   /** Executes the {@link Callable} and retries if it fails with an {@link AbortedException}. */
   static <T> T runTxWithRetriesOnAborted(Callable<T> callable) {
-    return runTxWithRetriesOnAborted(callable, txRetrySettings);
+    return runTxWithRetriesOnAborted(callable, txRetrySettings, NanoClock.getDefaultClock());
   }
 
   /**
    * Executes the {@link Callable} and retries if it fails with an {@link AbortedException} using
    * the specific {@link RetrySettings}.
    */
-  static <T> T runTxWithRetriesOnAborted(Callable<T> callable, RetrySettings retrySettings) {
+  @VisibleForTesting
+  static <T> T runTxWithRetriesOnAborted(
+      Callable<T> callable, RetrySettings retrySettings, ApiClock clock) {
     try {
-      return RetryHelper.runWithRetries(
-          callable, retrySettings, new TxRetryAlgorithm<>(), NanoClock.getDefaultClock());
+      return RetryHelper.runWithRetries(callable, retrySettings, new TxRetryAlgorithm<>(), clock);
     } catch (RetryHelperException e) {
       if (e.getCause() != null) {
         Throwables.throwIfUnchecked(e.getCause());
diff --git a/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerRetryHelperTest.java b/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerRetryHelperTest.java
index 415145120f..679cc610ef 100644
--- a/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerRetryHelperTest.java
+++ b/google-cloud-spanner/src/test/java/com/google/cloud/spanner/SpannerRetryHelperTest.java
@@ -17,8 +17,10 @@
 package com.google.cloud.spanner;
 
 import static com.google.common.truth.Truth.assertThat;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
 import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
 
+import com.google.api.core.ApiClock;
 import com.google.common.base.Stopwatch;
 import com.google.common.util.concurrent.ThreadFactoryBuilder;
 import com.google.protobuf.Duration;
@@ -42,6 +44,66 @@
 
 @RunWith(JUnit4.class)
 public class SpannerRetryHelperTest {
+  private static class FakeClock implements ApiClock {
+    private long currentTime;
+
+    @Override
+    public long nanoTime() {
+      return TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS.convert(currentTime, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public long millisTime() {
+      return currentTime;
+    }
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testRetryDoesNotTimeoutAfterTenMinutes() {
+    final FakeClock clock = new FakeClock();
+    final AtomicInteger attempts = new AtomicInteger();
+    Callable<Integer> callable =
+        new Callable<Integer>() {
+          @Override
+          public Integer call() {
+            if (attempts.getAndIncrement() == 0) {
+              clock.currentTime += TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.convert(10L, TimeUnit.MINUTES);
+              throw SpannerExceptionFactory.newSpannerException(ErrorCode.ABORTED, "test");
+            }
+            return 1 + 1;
+          }
+        };
+    assertEquals(
+        2,
+        SpannerRetryHelper.runTxWithRetriesOnAborted(
+                callable, SpannerRetryHelper.txRetrySettings, clock)
+            .intValue());
+  }
+
+  @Test
+  public void testRetryDoesFailAfterMoreThanOneDay() {
+    final FakeClock clock = new FakeClock();
+    final AtomicInteger attempts = new AtomicInteger();
+    Callable<Integer> callable =
+        new Callable<Integer>() {
+          @Override
+          public Integer call() {
+            if (attempts.getAndIncrement() == 0) {
+              clock.currentTime += TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.convert(25L, TimeUnit.HOURS);
+              throw SpannerExceptionFactory.newSpannerException(ErrorCode.ABORTED, "test");
+            }
+            return 1 + 1;
+          }
+        };
+    try {
+      SpannerRetryHelper.runTxWithRetriesOnAborted(
+          callable, SpannerRetryHelper.txRetrySettings, clock);
+      fail("missing expected exception");
+    } catch (SpannerException e) {
+      assertEquals(ErrorCode.ABORTED, e.getErrorCode());
+      assertEquals(1, attempts.get());
+    }
+  }
 
   @Test
   public void testCancelledContext() {