Ten-year-old Bud, a motherless boy living in Flint, Michigan, during the Great Depression, escapes a bad foster home and sets out in search of the man he believes to be his father--the renowned bandleader, H.E. Calloway of Grand Rapids.

Deza Malone, the smartest girl in her class in Gary, Indiana, accompanies her mother and older brother on a trip to find her father, an African American man who left to find work after the Great Depression hit. They end up in a Hooverville outside of Flint, Michigan, and her brother attempts to be a performer while Deza and her mother search for a home.

"A sus doce años, al pequeño Charlie parece habérsele acabado la suerte. Su padre, un aparcero, acaba de morir, y el capitán Buck --el hombre más temido de Mapache Triste, Carolina del Sur-- ha venido a cobrar una dueda. Charlie teme por su vida y decide llegar a un acuerdo con el capitán Buck: lo ayudará a rastrear a una banda acusada de robarle al capitán y a su jefe. No es un mal negocio para Charlie... hasta que se encuntra cara a cara...