Set in Lodz, Ziemia obiecana tells the story of three close friends and ruthless young industrialists: a Pole, a German, and a Jew struggling to build their own factory in the heartless world of the late 19th century labour exploitation. Reymont's novel vividly paints a portrait of the rapid industrialization of Lodz and its cruel effects on workers and mill owners. "For that land people were born. And it sucked everything in, crushed it in its powerful jaws, and chewed people and objects, the sky and the earth, in return giving useless millions to a handful of people, and hunger and hardship to the whole throng," he wrote.