Joseph Szalanski wrote about his travels as a hobo in two journals during the Great Depression in 1932. His goal was to visit all 48 States with 48 cents in his pocket, a penny for each state. Based on his original handwritten journals, this documentary film recreates Joe's four month journey through all 48 states, 142 cities and towns covering over 13,000 miles as he rides the rails in boxcars and passenger trains. Joe started his journey with his friend Kelly as they faced their first month on the roads with an adventurous spirit. But after the first month Kelly went back home and Joe faced his journey alone determined to cover all 48 states. He now faces many challenges and dangers. He endures illness, freezing cold and snow, a dangerous walk for twenty-two days in the desert, begs or works for his meals, and sleeps and eats in the hobo jungles, Salvation Army and missions. After four months he returns home a hero, gets married, has a son and works in the steel mill. But his life is cut short as he is crushed by a steel crane and becomes a victim of the mills, the very mills he avoided working in before he became a hobo.