Life was difficult in the mid-nineteenth century Germany. Most people were suffering from distress and afflictions: economic conditions, religious freedom, famine, and political upheaal. The Pollmanns from Hummersen, Germany, were enduring just such tragedies. When the crops failed in the mid-1800s, Christian Pollmann reacted by formulating a plan to travel to the New World. The journey was an arduous one. Lack of food, sparse medical attention, cramped living space, and unadulterated filth were a few of the problems. The historical novel is based on facts yet is intertwined with fictional stories, helping readers to envision the immigrants' upheaval in the Old World, the undaunted passage across the Atlantic, and the struggle as they settled in the New World.