In 1933, in the midst of the Depression and Prohibition, Calif, a stranger with a past, walks into Spooner, Missouri on his way from Michigan to California. He hires on with Lute Wade to earn some traveling money, but gets entangled in a bad family situation: Lute's daughter is married to Sidney, a good-for-nothing drunk who frequents the rural equivalent of a whorehouse, beats his wife, and is just waiting for Lute to kick the bucket to get his money. When Sidney and a local wacko preacher start to orchestrate a smear campaign against Calif, he struggles to conceal his past--and his growing affection for Sidney's wife.—Ed Sutton <[email protected]>