Charles and Elina meet in Sweden where Charles is an orphan, eking out a living as a farmhand and Elina is the daughter of a wealthy lumber baron. Searching for opportunities to gain land, Charles migrates to America in 1888 where he becomes a dock worker in Duluth, Minnesota to pay for Elina's passsage. They marry, raise a family and establish the Soderberg Dairy Farm. Soon difficulties coping with differences in their backgrounds are eclipsed by continuous struggles, including illness, injury and death.