Learn about work. It is the art form that is the most directly about people. You can't allow form to dominate content because the story is the thing. Make the form as transparent as possible so that people can 'live' the story. Caught in a life of backbreaking toil in a strange land, Mary and Dan's aim is to buy a farm.
Life proves otherwise.
As foreman, his inescapable task is to squeeze maximum production from the workers. The issue comes to a head in a bitter strike battle. He is forced to choose, either the side of the canal owners or the side of the workers. Brodine shows that the working class is the locomotive that powers the growth of the new nation. They left their mark, nevertheless, a long, long mark across the Ohio earth.