The second aliyah has Avrom in the land of Canaan with a terrible famine in the land. This is the worst famine the world had ever known, and it only affects the land of Canaan, and it started as soon as Avrom got there. This was right after G-d promised Avrom all sorts of blessing and told him to move to Canaan. As a result, this was one of Avrom's trials, to see if he would complain against G-d. But he didn't.
Avrom goes down to Egypt because he heard that food was abundant there, but his wife, Sarai, was so beautiful that the Egyptians took her captive to marry Pharaoh. But she was a Tzadekas (righteous woman), and prayed to G-d, and He struck the Egyptians with boils. She was released unharmed and given many gifts that made them rich. This paralleled what would happen to the Jewish people in the future: The Jewish people would later descend to Egypt, also because of a famine, in Yakov avinu's time. The Jewish people would then be enslaved by the Egyptians, but the Jewish women would remain modest in an immoral land. The Egyptians will be struck with plagues, and the Jewish people would be released with riches.
