Life story of a Mecklenburg emigrant in 19th century North America. Jürnjakob Swehn, the son of a day laborer from Mecklenburg, emigrates to America in 1868. He finds work on a farm in Iowa, gets married, becomes a tenant of a small property, but his goal is to own a piece of land.

With heartwarming humor, he recounts his life in the new world to his former teacher back in the old country: from his arrival in New York, to friends and neighbors, the grotesque consequences of agricultural overproduction, the construction of the church and school, the community without a pastor, and the death of his mother. Johannes Gillhoff, the son of this teacher, has woven the letters into a popular book that has lost none of its charm to this day.