The story of Kristina Från Duvemåla is based on the novels of Vilhelm Moberg, which detail the struggles of Swedish emigrants to the U.S. in the 19th century.

There are four novels in the series. Book One (The Emigrants) introduces Karl Oskar and Kristina Nilsson, their 3 young children, and 11 others who make up a resolute party of Swedes fleeing the poverty, religious persecution, and social oppression of Smaland in 1850. Book Two (Unto a Good Land) opens in the summer of 1850 as the emigrants disembark in New York City. Their journey to a new home in Minnesota Territory takes them by riverboat, steam wagon, Great Lakes steamship, and oxcart to Chicago County. Book Three (The Settlers) focuses on Karl Oskar and Kristina as they adapt to their new homeland and struggle to survive on their new farm. Book Four (The Last Letter Home) portrays the Nilsson family during the turmoil of living through the era of the Civil War and Dakota Conflict and their prospering in the midst of Minnesota's growing Swedish community of the 1860s-90s.

I haven't read the books myself, but once I do, I'll add some more thoughts here.