In the early 1900s, as the oppression of Russia's imperial rule takes its toll on Finland, the three Koski siblings - Ilmari, Matti and the politicized young Aino - are forced to flee to the western edges of the United States. The brothers face the excitement and danger of pioneering this frontier wilderness. But while they are tearing down ancient, colossal trees, Aino is striving to build up the country's first radical union movements. In lucid, luminous prose, Marlantes masterfully depicts the tyranny of nascent America, the limits of human survival and the enduring might of family love.