Hops and Barley is the story of an old man who lives a solitary life in a long term care facility. When nobody shows up to see him on his 74th birthday, he asks his nurse for a glass of beer so he can drink the day away. When he is told he isn't even allowed to have a beer on his birthday, he escapes the facility to find a bar. Underestimating the frigid temperature of the city in the winter he winds up hunkered over in an alleyway where he forms an unlikely relationship with a passerby that will change both their lives forever.