A freight train stops in the middle of the day in a desert and four hoboes jump out. The Georgian hobo explains that he hopes to be an oil man someday, but his friend retorts and says he'll be a hobo forever. The younger hobo, the kid, asks whether or not they'll be getting on more trains, but the Georgian explains they are going to walk through the desert some. As the four walk up the road, they feel lonely. They pass telephone poles and signs. The kid thinks about how he ran away from home to become a circus man, but is now a hobo. The kid begins to cry. The Georgian finds the kid's sudden crying to be annoying and wonders how the kid is so clean. The other hoboes, a Mexican man and a Native American (nicknamed the Indian), walk separately. They all lay down for a moment, hiding from the motorists that pass by. The Georgian tells the kid that he lost his job awhile back. The Indian, who the Georgian calls Monte Blue, then explains that he wishes he had his gun because he enjoy shooting the lizards in the desert. The Georgian finds this funny and laughs. Diego, the Mexican, agrees. The Indian explains that his name is not Monte Blue, but the others ignore him. As the group climbs mounds of sand, the Georgian tries to hunt the lizards with his knife to no avail and with the Indian looking disapprovingly. At one point during their walk, the Georgian plays a prank on the kid and pretends to leave him behind. The kid becomes angry about this and gets mad. The Georgian retorts, saying the kid is dumb. The kid asks for a cigarette as the group continues to hunt the Gila lizards. The Georgian looks down on the Indian, believing him only good for movies. The group then looks for moonstones in the sand, but the kid whines, saying he wants to go home. The Georgian angrily explains that the kid doesn't have a home and that no one in the group does. The group argues about their goals for jobs as they begin walking down the road towards a town, which they call Algodones. In this town are 20 saloons. The group enters one of the saloons and begins to order drinks. The Georgian pays for the drinks with the moonstones he had found earlier, but the bartender gets mad and claims moonstones aren't proper currency. The group begins to get drunk and the Georgian thinks about his goal to get to Texas.