As a young child, Morris Sills pays a nickel to see a moving picture starring his hero Hoot Gibson. The next week, he goes to the theater again to see the next installment of this movie series, but cannot get in with a nickel because his birthday recently passed. As a boy entering "manhood," he must pay more to get in. He waits for his friends to come out of the theater so he can ask them about what happened next in the series.  Years into adulthood, Morris goes on a walk with his 15-year-old son who thinks a bridge across water looks like a “bird with its head off and a tree without fruit.”  Now as a 57-year old man, Morris passes by the old motion picture theater he attended as a child. Construction workers are tearing the building down and Morris looks on with nostalgia, recalling the day he saw a satisfying movie and threw his cap in the air out of enthusiasm. Without thought, he asks the steam-shovel operator if he has seen his cap.