Although the war brought hardship to Denmark, the country suffered less than many other European nations. The financial assistance that Denmark received in 1948 from the Marshall Plan-the $13 billion in relief offered by the United States to Europe in the aftermath of the war-helped modernize agriculture and industry.

Before the war, some farms used machinery, but most farm work was still done by hand. The new post-war rural mechanization meant that farmhands like Chris-once essential to Spandet's economy-were no longer as important. This new reality, coupled with the desire to lead a life unlike that of his parents, led Chris to his decision to seek a new future across the Atlantic, in Canada.