1932: thrown off a Texas train, a tramp wanders to a decrepit Bible Belt ranch where he is rudely received by a widow and her son.
Mutual trust is essential to face the Great Depression, an ongoing severe drought that is becoming the Dust Bowl, and a powerful rancher who delights in torment.
The trampÕs confidence and self-respect, gravely shaken in 1918 by a serious war wound and then stripped when he stumbled home to shocking horror, is reborn.
He contacts relatives in Virginia and is urgently summoned home to face a crisis.
While heÕs gone his new Texas family is staggered. He rushes back to focus recent, unanticipated resources on man-made and natural onslaughts.
They find great strength in one another.
But, how much can they take?