Chapter 5 Summary

The Polish settlers begin to make a home for themselves on rented land outside Anaheim, where they plan to grow wine grapes. Their first priorities are to create more living space for the families by constructing a simple adobe cottage for two couples. Exhilarated by the beautiful scenery, the commune members are at once aware of their isolation and loneliness. Their first meal is eggplant roasted over a fire to the accompaniment of a howling coyote. Maryna gets a glimpse of how it is possible to build a new life without the old disappointments, and everyone jumps into the hard work of making their new life succeed.

A circus comes to the nearby orderly German town of Anaheim, and the half-breed strongman Zambo murders the circus manager and abducts an aerialist named Matilda - causing trepidation in the Polish community. Ryszard writes a...