A tale that follows the fortunes of Bill Farthing as he travels throughout North America at the turn of the 20th century. Seduced at 15 by his amorous guardian, Mrs. Fletcher, and fleeing rural Canada for a life of adventure, Farthing joins up with an irrepressible companion, Cass Findlater, perhaps one of the last great American entrepreneurs. Farthing's journey is also a quest, a devoted search for the love of his life - a red-headed music hall beauty, the incomparable Sally Butters. It is a search that takes him to the bustling, immigrant-filled New York City of the 1890s; to the Klondike Gold Rush; to Europe; and to the rail yards and hobo jungles of the Great Depression.