Ever so slowly Dakota Territory is being transformed from a vast prairie into rich farmland. With the coming of the railroad, the small town of Blessing begins to prosper, and the Bjorklund family is reaping the promised harvest that had lured them from their beloved home in Norway. But for Ingeborg and Haakan, realizing their dreams will not come without a struggle. After their own fields are harvested, Haakan and the neighboring men take the steam...

The Bjorklund family has received word that Augusta Bjorklund is on her way from Norway to join them in North Dakota. When the train arrives in the town of Blessing with no Augusta aboard, the worried family hopes she will be on the train in the morning. But only her trunk arrives, so Bridget Bjorklund insists that Hjelmer, Augusta's brother, go find her. Augusta, after discovering her intended bridegroom had married someone else, decided to leave...

The wide-open plains of the Dakota Territory form the setting for the lives and loves of women making their way in the new world. Armed with a water-stained letter, a faded photograph, and a ticket from Norway to America, Clara Johnson journeys to Soldall ready to fall into the arms of her Dakota Dream. But who she meets instead is a rough and rugged blacksmith named Dag Weinlander.

Ingeborg and Roald Bjorklund leave Norway for the promise of free land and a good life in America. But little could they foresee the price they will have to pay to wrest a living from the virgin prairie. Will they survive the hardships of that first winter?

Hjelmer travels west to work on the railroad, but after sending only one letter to Penny, who has agreed to wait for him.

"Though she has known hardships in her life, Ingeborg Bjorklund chooses to focus on all she has been given. Blessed with children and grandchildren, she enjoys the friendship and support of the entire Blessing, North Dakota, community. And after several years of widowhood, she has reached a place of contentment with her life .Meanwhile, her stepson Thorliff is raising two children alone since his beloved Elizabeth died. But there is a new schoolteacher...