Young Sammy wants nothing more than to get out from under the thumb of his overbearing spinster Aunt Claudia. When a tramp named Lefty wanders through town, Sammy is immediately taken in by his skill with a fiddle, his crafty charm and his trained bull terrier, Smiler. And when Lefty asks Sammy to join him on the road, the boy jumps at the chance. The two begin to con their way around the West--footloose and fancy-free. But Lefty isn't as free as he'd like to be. An incredibly dangerous hunchback named Jake has been chasing him across the country, looking to settle an old score. And when Jake catches up with them, there will be hell to pay, both for Lefty and for anyone traveling with him.