The narrative follows a close-knit traveling family of performers who, after accumulating savings in California, decide to return to Europe and undertake an arduous overland and seaborne journey across western North America and the Arctic approaches; episodes combine lively descriptions of landscapes and towns, domestic details about their preparations and finances, encounters with local communities and hazards, and a mix of practical ingenuity, humor, and suspense that drives a series of episodic adventures toward eventual passage back to the Old World.