In 1844 in the Swedish province of Småland, the Nilsson family lives in Lessebo Municipality, on a small farm in the woods at Korpamoen. The eldest son, Karl Oskar, inherits the farm from his father Nils, after meeting a young girl named Kristina Johansdotter, who becomes his bride. She moves to Korpamoen to live with him and his parents. In the following years, Karl Oskar and Kristina start a family, starting with a daughter, Anna, followed by Johan, Marta and Harald. The family struggles with poor weather and harvests and hunger. Karl Oskar's rebellious younger brother Robert first comes across the idea of emigrating to America, tired of being treated poorly as a farmhand. He first asks his friend Arvid, another farmhand at Nybacken, to come along with him. Arvid eagerly agrees, but the pair's hopes are dashed when they realize they do not have the money needed for their passage. Robert confronts Karl Oskar about selling his share of the farm in order to afford the passage, only to find out that Karl Oskar himself had been considering the idea of moving his family to the United States. Despite the offerings of a better life, Kristina adamantly rejects the notion, not wanting to leave her homeland as well as being fearful of risking the lives of their four young children on the ocean.