Ántonia Shimerda is a bold and free-hearted young Bohemian girl with whom Jim Burden develops a strong friendship. She is four years older than Jim, and embodies the spirit of the prairie. Her family comes to Black Hawk, Nebraska, from Bohemia, and not long after, her father, during the first hard Nebraskan winter conflicts with the seller of the house, Krajiek, and is shot in the family's barn. (non illustrated)At the beginning of the second book, The Hired Girls, Jim moves with his grandparents to town, who encourage their neighbors, the Harling family, to take Ántonia on as a maid. Jim befriends the other hired girls, including the beautiful Lena Lingard. A group of dance teachers comes to town, and begins a dance craze. Jim, four years younger than Ántonia, becomes romantically interested in her, only to realize that she still considers him a child. Lena Lingard toys somewhat with the young man's emotions, but Ántonia, to protect Jim's feelings, ultimately prevents any relationship from occurring.Jim eventually goes away to college, and largely forgets his past in Black Hawk. Years later he meets Lena Lingard again, now a successful dressmaker. They are involved romantically for a time, but Jim's mentor notes the detrimental impact it is having on Jim's studies and offers him the opportunity to study instead at Harvard Law School in Boston. Jim ultimately returns to Black Hawk after some 20 years, and visits Ántonia. She is now married with 10 children, and Jim finds himself affectionate toward the whole family. The closing lines of the book communicate Jim's feelings that whatever he felt that he and Ántonia had missed, "we possessed together the precious, the incommunicable past."