When crops failed in 1852, Christian Pollmann made a life-changing decision: leave his home of Hummersen, Germany, behind for a new life across the Atlantic. The journey would no doubt be arduous. Germany's distress and afflictions of famine, political upheaval, and threats to religious freedoms gave way to the desperate lives of European emigrants. Witnessing the struggles of sparse medical attention, a lack of food, cramped living space, and unadulterated filth, the Pollmann family learned first-hand the difficulties of coming to the New World. Between a murder on board, stowaway urchins, and an unflinching struggle to survive, the Pollmanns continually envisioned a new life in America. This historical novel is based on the true story of the Christian Pollmann family, ancestors of Jan Frazier.