The third-person narrator introduces Edwin. He travels on a ship to Canada, leaving behind his father and older brother in England. He left because he wouldn’t inherit his family’s wealth: He is the youngest child and has radical opinions. Despite having no experience in the field, he considers becoming a farmer. 

Once in Halifax, Edwin stays at a boarding house and watches people and boats at the harbor through his window. Eventually, he takes art classes and learns to sketch. After six months, a man named Reginald arrives.

Edwin follows Reginald to his newly-purchased farm out west in Saskatchewan. They travel by train, and Edwin enjoys the scenery until it becomes endless prairies. The farm is muddy, and Edwin feels unsettled. The men drink and talk about reaping, Edwin having little idea about how to run a farm.

Chapter 3 begins a month later, during which Edwin has been drinking on Reginald’s farm. Edwin rides a train to Victoria, marveling at the Rocky Mountains along the way, and meets up with Thomas, a friend of his brother, Niall. They have tea in a hotel, talk about Niall, and Edwin thinks about Britain owning the wilderness outside the window.