Shlomo came from the beth midrash, a microcosm of intensive religious study; Zissel was the daughter of a wealthy assimilated lawyer. In a fervor of idealism, both left their Small town in Poland and joined the chalutzim on their way to Palestine to rebuild the Jewish homeland. However, a tempestuous whirlwind of conflicting Zionist ideologies makes life in the Poetised Land bewilderingly difficult. Few of their ideals are fulfilled, and Shlomo is bitterly disappointed. Though no longer observant, the concepts and values absorbed in the yeshivah stay rooted within him; and in an unending search for an ideal, truly just society, he leaves Palestine for the "utopia" of the Soviet Union.

Meanwhile, Zissel too returns to Europe, and both are caught up in the maelstrom of World War II. Subjected to intense suffering, they must each come to terms with their existence as Jews in order to find meaning in their lives. Finally, after the war, they meet and return to the Land of Israel and their true heritage this time, as man and wife.

Although a complete story in itself, The Long Journey Home is interlinked with the author's earlier novel, The Twins.