Manoj, a young Bhutanese refugee who has recently arrived in Boston with his foster family, feels out of place in America. He doesn't really remember his parents or fleeing from Bhutan—he's spent most of his life in a refugee camp in Nepal—and he feels he doesn't have a home. One day, he takes the train to Chinatown to get food, and in desperation, decides to hide in a restaurant's broom closet and falls asleep. He wakes up to the biggest blizzard to hit Boston since 1935, and while he's thrilled at first, he soon realizes that he's not in a good situation. He goes to the train station, realizes he's missed the last train, and prepares to wait until morning to get back to his foster family, but then a mysterious train with an enormous, strange engine arrives. Manoj boards the train when the operator invites him on, and the two discuss their situation. It turns out that the train operator is the train's mascot and has been on the train for decades. The train's engine is actually a jet engine, and it's meant to melt through ice and snow to keep the other trains running. Manoj is suspicious of this man at first, but as they discuss the unfairness of America and Manoj realizes this man also doesn't belong anywhere (except for the train, which is "a place for those who are passing through"), he relaxes. The story ends ambiguously, with Manoj still on the train and its "path that [promises] nothing and everything."