An ex-con drifter with a penchant for brawling is amused by a homeless ex-sailor, so they partner up as they head east together.

Max is an ex-con who's been saving money to open a car wash in Pittsburgh. Lionel is a sailor who's returning home to the midwest to see the child born while he was at sea. They form an unlikely pair as the brawling Max learns a little how Lionel copes with the world: Lionel believes that the scarecrow doesn't scare birds, but instead amuses them - birds find scare-crows funny.—Gary Dickerson <[email protected]>

Max Millan and Francis Delbuchi are both drifters traveling independently of each other. Max, a quick tempered and highly regimented man, has just served a six year prison term, and is heading to Pittsburgh to open a car wash business, with a stop in Denver first to visit his sister Coley. "Lion" as Max eventually coins Francis (Lion which is short for Francis' middle name, Lionel), whose easy going nature demonstrates how immature he is, has just spent five years working on a ship, and is heading to Detroit to see his wife Annie and their child, who he has never met and whose gender he doesn't even know. An act of his immaturity, he abandoned Annie when she was pregnant. To make up for it, he has since sent all his paychecks to Annie. He hasn't told her of his impending visit. Max and Lion meet each other in California early in their current travels. Despite their initial meeting being somewhat confrontational due to their different natures, they decide to travel together, combining resources to open that car wash. They still plan on stopping in Denver and Detroit before their final destination of Pittsburgh. As they thumb rides and ride the rails together, each brings the other a little closer to his own temperament. But a longer than anticipated stay in Denver and an incident with Annie threatens their dreams.—Huggo

Max, a tough, brawling ex-convict, who dreams of one day owning his own car-wash, hooks up with "Lion," a clowning kid just home from five years at sea. They go from California to Reno to Denver to Detroit hoping to find a life far removed from the jails and skid-rows they know too well.—Les Adams <[email protected]>