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 tramp's 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 he's 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?