Book I: "The Land-Taking"

As the novel opens, Per Hansa leads his family with their meager possessions over the vast emptiness of the Dakotas' grassy plains. With him are his pregnant wife Beret, his sons Ole and StoreHans, and his young daughter, And-Ongen. The family is searching for their traveling party, whom they had to leave when their rickety wagon was damaged. The family, especially Beret, fears that they are lost and may never locate their settlement, a predicament that could prove fatal, Unable to sleep, Per Hansa travels out at night and discovers evidence of a campsite. proof that they have the right trail.

At the settlement itself (called Spring Creek), Per Hansa's friends fear for him They are soon reunited, however, and realize that Per Hansa had traveled too far west. Per Hansa and the other settlers' Hans Olsa and his wife Sonne, Syvert Tonseten and...