The story of the past is also the story of the present, of the landscape that we see around us every day. The film Secrets of a house tells about ordinary men and women and the way the lived in the Swedish countryside during the 19th and 20th centuries. The crofters holding of Hagbraten is situated in the woods of Borgvik in the province of Varmland and funtions as the example in the film. What can you find out about life in the past when you visit the remnants of a home as well as the Swedish archives? How do you trace the sons and daughters of the crofters family on their paths towards the US in the era of the Great Migration? The film gives some answers to these essential questions for all of us with an interest in history.