"Independent People" is a saga of the life of a simple poor peasant, Bjartur. The author talks about Bjartur’s twenty years of hard work on a piece of land as a truly heroic feat worthy of the heroes of ancient legends. Frequent references to old sagas, and heroic poems skillfully woven into the narrative by the author, and individual episodes of the novel that make one recall the folk epic - all this creates an atmosphere of epic solemnity and high poetry.