Destined to a life of servitude, Karl Kessel, a turn-of-the-century German immigrant from a Danube Swabian settlement in Surtschin, Yugoslavia receives an unexpected gift of The Ticket, to America. Grasping his dream he leaves behind his young wife, Katja and two small sons. Karl boards the KronPrinz Wilheim and sails for a country he knows nothing about, only that it promises the opportunity he covets. When he arrives in America, he becomes consumed and obsessed with the unwavering desire to be the owner of a farm-to be his own man. Over a year later, when Katja steps off a train with their...