Håkan and Linus are separated in Portsmouth, and Håkan accidentally boards a ship heading to California instead of New York.

The Brennan family nurses the feverish Håkan back to health during the long sea voyage to San Francisco.

Arriving in San Francisco, Håkan resolves to find his brother even if it means crossing the entire continent alone.

James Brennan discovers gold in a hillside stream and rapidly transforms into a gaunt, obsessive, and cruel man.

The amber-haired woman's armed men force the Brennans to sell their mine at gunpoint and take Håkan captive.

Håkan is imprisoned in a Clangston inn and repeatedly sexually abused by the amber-haired woman for nearly a year.

The tidy man sneaks into the inn and frees Håkan, who flees into the desert and eventually collapses unconscious.

Scottish naturalist John Lorimer discovers the unconscious Håkan in the desert and brings him under his convoy's protection.

Lorimer's convoy nearly perishes crossing the Saladillo salt flats as water runs out and the men grow mutinous.

The Soldiers of Jehu disguise themselves as rescuers, then massacre the wagon train and murder Helen and her family.

Overwhelmed by grief, Håkan kills and maims many of the raiders, earning the feared and infamous reputation of the Hawk.

A corrupt sheriff captures Håkan, parades him through towns to collect donations, and plans to execute him in Illinois.

Deputy Asa turns his gun on the sheriff and escapes westward with Håkan, giving up his entire former life.

Riders discover Asa in the canyon and kill him; Håkan, hidden nearby, remains alone in the cave for three days.

Finnish captain Altenbaum offers Håkan passage toward Sweden; Håkan later climbs off the icebound schooner and walks across the ice.

Håkan Söderström, a young Swedish immigrant, is accidentally separated from his brother Linus and ends up in San Francisco rather than New York, resolving to cross the entire continent to find him. Along the way he is imprisoned and abused by a powerful woman in a mining town, then rescued by a Scottish naturalist named John Lorimer who teaches him medicine and transforms his view of the world. After joining a wagon train, Håkan falls in love with a woman named Helen, whose murder at the hands of the Soldiers of Jehu drives him to a devastating act of violence that gives birth to the legend of the Hawk. Hunted by a corrupt sheriff and eventually freed by a deputy named Asa, Håkan experiences his deepest sense of belonging before losing Asa to the same enemies pursuing him. After years of isolation and wandering, Håkan returns west in old age, finds his original goal impossible, and ultimately chooses to walk across the arctic ice in the direction of Sweden.

The full arc of Håkan's legendary journey across America.

The Söderström family grows increasingly isolated in Sweden as their landlord's greed drives away all neighboring families.

Erik Söderström sells a colt to fund two passages to America, sending Håkan and Linus off toward a new world.

Håkan joins the Brennan family's prospecting expedition and hauls their belongings across rugged terrain in a heavy wheelbarrow.

James screams and kicks Håkan after the overloaded wheelbarrow careens downhill and shatters, revealing his darkening temper.

James takes Håkan on a supply run to Clangston, where Håkan glimpses the amber-haired woman at the inn for the first time.

Lorimer develops heatstroke after studying the Saladillo brine pits and tearfully begs Håkan not to let the men abandon him.

When starving convoy members try to eat Lorimer's animal specimens, Håkan physically blocks them even as one man draws a gun.

Lorimer and Håkan discover a decimated Indigenous village, decide to stay, and successfully treat most of the wounded survivors.

Warrior Antim agrees to escort Lorimer back to Saladillo; Lorimer gives Håkan gold, money, surgical instruments, and a silver compass.

Håkan discovers an elegantly carved wardrobe abandoned in the desert and sees his own weathered reflection in its mirror.

Jarvis Pickett invites Håkan to join his wagon train as a bodyguard, promising a horse and saddle in return.

A boy loses his arm in a wagon accident, and Håkan performs a successful operation while developing feelings for the boy's sister, Helen.

Håkan spends a winter alone in the wilderness, hunting animals and sewing their pelts together into a patchwork coat.

Håkan flees in terror from a cheerful village painted Swedish red and abandons his eastward journey toward Linus.

Håkan watches unrecognized as a theatrical troupe in a transformed Clangston performs a twisted and grisly version of his legend.

Before Håkan ever reaches America, his family's poverty in Sweden and his brother Linus's protective care define who he is and what he values. The early hardships of the prospecting expedition with the Brennans, from physical labor to violence, introduce him to the corruption that gold can bring out in people. His time with John Lorimer's convoy yields friendships, medical knowledge, and encounters with Indigenous people whose suffering deepens his reverence for human life. On the wagon train, Håkan's quiet romance with Helen and his successful surgery on her brother reveal the healer beneath the legend. The novel's final movement returns Håkan to Clangston, now an unrecognizable city, where he witnesses a theatrical mockery of his own legend before an unexpected encounter sets him on a final course toward home.

The key moments and relationships that shaped Håkan's path.

Linus invents adventure stories to distract Håkan from their impoverished Swedish childhood, planting the seeds of his dreams about America.

Håkan secretly watches James Brennan hide his gold at night, grasping the dangerous depth of the miner's obsession.

The amber-haired woman shoots a man named Caleb between the eyes, then abandons the tidy man, who later frees Håkan in revenge.

Lorimer tells Håkan that God did not create man but created something that became man, transforming Håkan's entire understanding of life.

Lorimer teaches Håkan anatomy, dissection, and biology, giving him medical skills he will depend on for the rest of his journey.

Håkan nurses the critically feverish Lorimer back to health on the return from Saladillo, refusing to abandon his friend.

After recovering, Lorimer calculates in astonishment that Håkan has grown significantly in weeks and may represent the next stage of human evolution.

Håkan operates on his pony Pingo to remove sand from its intestines but is ultimately forced to euthanize the suffering animal.

Håkan spots paint beneath a rider's disguise just as Helen rests her head on his shoulder in a brief moment of peace.

Håkan buries Helen and her family, silently returns Jarvis's pistol to the sleeping leader, and rides away from the celebrating survivors.

A venomous snakebite shocks Håkan out of months of apathy and forces him to realize he still fears death and wants to live.

The sheriff tortures Håkan by stitching a cross onto his chest while declaring he must accept Jesus into his heart.

Tending to Asa's broken leg, Håkan realizes with surprise that Asa has replaced Linus as his sense of home and belonging.

Former soldiers discover Håkan's underground maze and threaten to collect the bounty on his head unless he joins their gang of thieves.

Håkan finds a lost child and returns her to Finnish captain Altenbaum, who recognizes him as the Hawk but sees only a tired old man.

From the stories Linus told in their Swedish childhood to the moment Håkan steps off an icebound ship, the novel is driven by a series of pivotal revelations that remake who Håkan is and what he believes. Lorimer's evolutionary theories, his own discovery of medical skill, and the tender bond with Asa each represent a transformation in how Håkan understands belonging and the sanctity of life. His descent into isolation after Helen's death and his near-death from a snakebite bookend a period of spiritual collapse and renewal that defines the novel's emotional center. The corrupt sheriff's torture and the soldiers' threat to his underground hiding place force Håkan back into the world each time he retreats from it. By the novel's close, an unlikely encounter with a Finnish captain who looks past the Hawk's legend and sees only a tired old man finally provides Håkan with a path toward the only place he ever truly belonged.

The decisions, discoveries, and emotional shifts that defined Håkan's inner life.