Land oder Leben: Wie unser Traum von einer Farm in der amerikanischen Wildnis endete

Idyllic country life? That would have been nice, indeed.

Everything starts with the longing for a self-determined life in unspoilt nature. When the Munich filmmaker Claudia Heuermann had enough of smog, stress and city life, she wanted to leave: With her husband and two small sons, she moved into the deep forests of the North American Catskill Mountains, where she worked with goats and chickens on a 200 year old farm and makes her dream of an independent self-sufficient life come true. She grows vegetables, cooks maple syrup over a campfire, collects eggs and makes cheese and goat milk soap, while the children romp through the forest, far away from traffic and air pollution.

But then the wilderness shows its claws: a black bear threatens the area, a venomous snake finds its way into the basement, and a pack of coyotes is getting closer than the family would like them to. And the brother chicks become belligerent roosters and the children become teenagers, nothing goes as planned.

Claudia bravely masters all challenges and the non-stop backbreaking work on the farm - day in, day out, for seven years until the family is put to the test of their lives ...