Beginning in the 19th century Germany

A mother with three young children is deserted by her husband with no financial support. As the oldest boy reaches his teenage years, illness befell his mother, resulting in her death, and the adoption of her children. When the oldest child reached sixteen, he seized the opportunity to come to America, and have a better life.

South Carolina in the mid eighteen hundreds

also begins the life of another man, although born in a family of means. Both families encounter hardship and struggle, sadness and death, as the next generation continues down life's pathway to the tenth year of the twenty first century.