Emigrants from Calabria arrive at Milan station with their luggage, to make their home there or set off for other destinations. A man falls asleep in a waiting room. The travellers look lost and tired. The language of the others is henceforth incomprehensible; they are already foreigners in their own country.

Sweden, 1849. A poverty-stricken family decides to move to America in the hope of finding a better and more prosperous life. Although they know the journey will be dangerous and the pressure of facing a new life in a strange and wild land is great, they are determined to succeed.