In this Depression-era tale Calef is traveling from Michigan to California and stops in Spooner Missouri where Lute hires him for odd jobs. Calef gets involved with Lute's niece Hannah. But she is married to Sidney a wife-beating drunk who hopes to inherit his uncle-in-law's money. Sidney and an eccentric preacher plot against Calef who finds it difficult to conceal his mysterious past and his growing affection for Sidney's wife.