Theodor Fontane (1819-1898) published this dark crime novel set in the Silesian Giant Mountains and America in 1891, centered around the poacher Lehnert Menz, who despises all state authority. His main adversary is the arrogant forester Opitz. When Opitz confronts the poacher, Lehnert shoots him and flees to the USA, where he struggles to get by. He only finds peace in a Mennonite settlement, but a serious accident in the wilderness, interpreted by Lehnert as a reckoning for his actions, shatters all hopes.