Fatherless Oskar is rather neglected by his alcoholic mother and dreams of a holiday to the American prairies and is bullied by classmates. Instead she tells him she has a temporary job in the States and sends him for the summer to her stern father, who uses Oskar as his unpaid forest farm hand. So he bonds with the only potential playmate around, simpleton Levi, who is obsessed by his visually impaired pony. Grandpa doesn't want Levi around but Oskar finds out his mother lied, so the knaves plan to fix an old 'transatlantic rowing boat' to cross the Atlantic on an intercontinental fugue.