Set in a Swedish village about to enter the modern age, the story begins in the 1870s, as an excited and suspicious citizenry await the first train to arrive at their newly constructed station. We're introduced gradually to a townful of hardy and endearingly eccentric souls, who are instantly brought to life and involved in the story's several ongoing actions. We see Ekman's characters join, part, recombine, and change as years pass; trains begin to appear routinely, and the new century proves no more inclined than the old to free common people from their repetitive rounds ("witches' rings") of toil and discouragement.
