This article explores the everyday experiences of resettlement among newly recognized refugee parents living in rural Denmark. Comparing two ethnographic case stories it enquires into the ways in which the parents try to create a sense of belonging and pursue life coherence and a positive outlook on the future within the everyday sociocultural framework of the Danish welfare state. It is argued that they mostly comprehend and carry out their strivings for a better future by means of a narratively grounded, intergenerational rationale. This rationale invites them to assess the success of the family’s entire act of migration in terms of what the future promises for their children. The article thus illuminates and crystallizes how among newly recognized refugee families mundane intergenerational dynamics form a crucial relational and temporal factor with regard to the parents’ building of existential well-being, societal trust and aspirations for ‘integration’ into the Danish welfare society.