" Jim Burden, a successful New York City lawyer, leaves an acquaintance a memoir of his Nebraska childhood in the form of a recollection of their mutual friend, Antonia Shimerda.
Jim had first arrived in Nebraska at the age of ten, when he was made the trip west to live with his grandparents after finding himself as an orphan in Virginia. On this same train, Jim has his first glimpse of the Shimerdas, a Bohemian immigrant family travelling in the same direction.
As fate would have it, the Shimerdas have taken up residence in a neighboring farm to the Burdens'. Jim makes fast friends with the Shimerda children, especially Antonia, who is nearest to him in age, and eager to learn English. At her father's request, Jim begins to tutor Antonia, and the two of them spend much of the autumn exploring their new landscape together.
Shortly after Christmas, tragedy strikes with the suicide of Mr. Shimerda. After an emotional funeral, the Shimerdas retreat into despair, and the Burdens struggle to be as accomodating as possible. As a result of the hardships that the Shimerdas suffer, a wedge is driven between Antonia and Jim.
A couple of years later, the Burdens decide to move into town, and shortly thereafter Antonia takes a job as a housekeeper with a neighboring family, the Harlings. Jim begins to see more of Antonia once again, especially when a dancing pavilion comes to town and enlivens the social situation.
Jim's high school years quickly come to a close, and he is offered a spot at the university in Lincoln. He makes a great success of his commencement speech, and spends the summer hard at work in preparation for his course of study. Before leaving, he takes one last trip out to the countryside with Antonia and her friends, where they gather to reminisce about old times together.
In Lincoln, Jim throws himself into his studies, which take up the majority of his time in the first year and a half of his course. In the spring of his second year, he begins to see a good deal of Lena Lingard, a mutal friend of his and Antonia's whom Jim has always been intrigued by. After several months of theater-going and dalliances about town, Jim decides he needs to make a fresh start of things and prepares to transfer to Harvard for his final two years of college.
While Jim is away, Antonia gets engaged to a local boy, and makes a move out to Denver in order to be with him. Days before the wedding, he abandons her, and she returns to Nebraska heartbroken. She covers up an unexpected pregnancy throughout its term, but in giving birth to a daughter incurs the disapproval of her family. However, she resolves to take care of her baby, and continues to work on the farm with her brother.
After graduating from college, in the summer before entering law school, Jim returns to Nebraska to be with his grandparents. Upon hearing of Antonia's situation, he decides to drive out to the countryside and visit her. They spend a happy day together reliving old times, and Jim parts with a promise to revisit her soon.
Twenty years pass before Jim is able to bring himself back to visit Antonia again. In the intervening period, he has established himself as a prosperous New York City lawyer, and Antonia has married and borne a dozen children by a man named Cuzak, also of Bohemian origins. Jim's visit to the Cuzak farm is a happy one, with plenty of laughter and stories. Antonia and Jim renew their old ties, and Jim resolves to be in closer contact with the Cuzaks in the coming years.
As he prepares to leave Nebraska and return to New York City, Jim walks along the outskirts of town, near the overgrown road that leads to his childhood home. At peace with himself in this familiar landscape, he feels that his life has come full circle, and reflects in the moonlight on all that his past with Antonia has meant to him.
"(http://www.sparknotes.com/guides/antonia/)
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