In the late 19th century, two Swedish emigrants, Lasse Karlsson and his son Pelle, arrive on the Danish island of Bornholm hoping to find work on a farm and save enough money to travel to the United States of America.
Disaster strikes when an aging actress invites her eccentric family to Hollywood for the holidays.
Jacob, a farm boy from Denmark, joins U.N. Brigade's peacekeeping force in Bosnia, where he witnesses refugees trying to escape their war-torn villages. There, Jacob is befriended by Sergeant Holt, a cynical soldier.