A missing teen is believed to have joined the FTRA, a violent, train-hopping gang. The runaway's mother engages Ross Spencer, private eye, to find her. He goes undercover as a hobo, and the trail takes him across all the southwestern states and into Mexico. In this story the reader gets some sociological insights into the mindset of those afflicted with wanderlust. It is based on the author's experience as a border patrolman often engaged in arresting illegal aliens in hobo jungles and freight-transfer yards. In those duties, he witnessed firsthand the violent nature of some of those those involved in train-hopping, but also developed rapport with many hobos and heard their exciting stories of survival. Hobo survival skills included, but were not limited to, avoiding arrest for trespass and avoiding the many violent criminals involved in this subculture.