It's night in the Southern California desert. In what looks like the Depression, two hoboes board the same boxcar unbeknownst to each other. When the older one discovers the younger silent one, he starts a conversation, giving advice, being avuncular. The conversation turns ugly when he discovers his traveling companion is a young woman. She knows she's in danger, so she offers him some of the money she'll soon be getting. He brushes the offer aside and begins an assault, interrupted by the cries of a baby hidden in her large valise. Push comes to shove, and the older hobo soon finds himself out-boxed. The next day he makes a rueful discovery.