The Hobo and the Lady

words. It is 1934, and the Great Depression has turned Horace McAvoy from a respected Cincinnati banker into "Slim Chance," a hobo riding the "High Line." When a brutal winter forces him off a freight train in Texarkana, Horace finds an unlikely sanctuary on the farm of Maddie Johnston. Maddie is a woman living in a state of suspended grief, waiting for a husband who disappeared years ago. In exchange for food, Horace begins tutoring the local children, eventually founding a makeshift academy. But his presence threatens the local Sheriff, John Henry, who uses the chaos of the era to rule with an iron fist. When the Sheriff uncovers the truth about Maddie's husband, he chooses to bury it—along with Horace. After a near-fatal beating, Horace is forced back onto the rails. From the "Hobo Colleges" of Chicago to the grueling life of a Montana "Gandy Dancer," Horace undergoes a physical and spiritual transformation. He returns to Texarkana not as a fugitive, but as a man of iron, ready to use his banker's mind and a laborer's strength to dismantle the Sheriff's lies and claim the life he was forced to leave behind.