A caseworker at the orphanage assigns Bud to a new foster family, the Amoses, as Bud comforts younger orphan Jerry.

Todd Amos shoves a pencil up Bud's nose while he sleeps, provoking a fistfight between the two boys.

Bud suffers hornet stings and cuts his fingers on fish-head teeth escaping the locked Amos shed through a window.

Bud pours warm water on sleeping Todd to make him wet the bed, then slips out of the Amos house.

Bud arrives late to the mission breakfast but a family pretends he is their son to get him into the line.

Bud visits the library and learns that Miss Hill, the librarian he hoped would help, has married and moved away.

Bugs finds Bud sleeping outside the library and persuades him to join a westbound train hop for migrant work.

Bud and Bugs race for the departing train at dawn, but Bud cannot climb aboard while Bugs succeeds.

Bud uses a library road atlas to plan a solo walk to Grand Rapids to find Herman E. Calloway.

Mr. Lefty Lewis finds Bud walking alone at night and drives him to Grand Rapids after a night at his daughter's house.

Bud confronts Herman E. Calloway at the Log Cabin and declares he is his son, but Calloway flatly denies it.

Miss Thomas invites Bud to stay at Grand Calloway Station, and the band gives him a recorder and a saxophone case.

Riding home from a gig, Bud spots Mr. Calloway's collection of labeled rocks stored in the car's glove box.

Bud shows Mr. Calloway his own labeled rocks and reveals his mother's name is Angela Janet Caldwell.

The band presents Bud with a small alto saxophone, and Bud unpacks his belongings into his mother's old room.

Bud Caldwell, a ten-year-old orphan in Flint, Michigan, is sent to the Amos foster home where he is mistreated and locked in a shed overnight. After escaping and getting revenge on his foster brother, Bud runs away determined to find the jazz musician Herman E. Calloway, whom he believes is his father. His attempt to hop a freight train west fails, so he redirects his quest and sets out on foot toward Grand Rapids. A kind stranger named Lefty Lewis picks him up and delivers him to the Log Cabin, where Calloway's band performs. After being flatly rejected by Calloway, Bud is taken in by the warm-hearted band members and given a place to stay. A shared collection of labeled rocks ultimately reveals that Calloway is not his father but his grandfather, and Bud finally unpacks his belongings into the room that once belonged to his mother.

Bud's journey from orphan to found grandson.

Bud packs his suitcase at the orphanage and carefully checks that his flyers, rocks, and Momma's photo are all present.

Mrs. Amos sends Bud to sleep in the padlocked backyard shed as punishment after Todd lies about who started the fight.

Bud sneaks back inside the Amos house, retrieves his suitcase, and hides the family shotgun on the back porch.

Bud sleeps beneath the library pine trees and holds up his photo of a young Momma sitting on a toy horse.

A woman pretending to be Bud's mother sprinkles brown sugar on his oatmeal from her own small packet at the mission.

Bud and Bugs arrive at Flint's Hooverville and eat muskrat stew with the homeless residents camped there.

Deza Malone leads Bud to a stream to wash dishes, asks him about his family, and then kisses him.

Bugs successfully boards the moving train and throws Bud's suitcase back off the car so Bud can retrieve it.

The librarian gives Bud a Civil War picture book to read all day and packs him her own sandwich at closing.

Bud locks Mr. Lewis outside his own car and tries to drive away, convinced a box of blood proves Lewis is a vampire.

Mr. Lewis introduces himself, jokes about Bud's escape attempt, and reveals he personally knows Herman E. Calloway.

A police officer stops Mr. Lewis's car while searching for labor union organizers traveling up from Detroit.

The band takes Bud to the Sweet Pea restaurant for dinner and introduces him to every member by name.

Bud overhears Miss Thomas persuading Mr. Calloway to allow Bud to stay until they hear back from Flint.

Miss Thomas explains to Bud that Mr. Calloway pushed Angela to become a teacher and that she ran away from home.

While Bud's main goal is finding his father, his journey is shaped by smaller moments and the people he encounters along the way. From packing his treasured suitcase at the orphanage to hiding the Amoses' shotgun before his escape, Bud shows resourcefulness at every turn. He finds temporary warmth at the mission breakfast table, in Hooverville's communal fire, and beneath the library's pine trees, meeting characters like Deza Malone and Bugs who help him survive and reflect on his situation. A long ride with Lefty Lewis, a tense police stop, and a welcoming dinner at the Sweet Pea restaurant all move Bud closer to belonging. Once inside Grand Calloway Station, overheard arguments and Miss Thomas's patient storytelling fill in the missing pieces of who Bud's family really is.

The people and places that shape Bud's path.

Bud reflects that he stopped crying when assigned to new foster homes, though his feelings have not truly gone away.

Todd lies skillfully to his mother about the fight, and Bud silently admires the performance even as he is punished.

After escaping the shed, Bud decides that running away is far better than returning to any foster home or orphanage.

Bud's small suspicion that Herman E. Calloway is his father has grown into a certainty he can no longer ignore.

A white family in Hooverville refuses offered food and help, declaring they are not in need of a handout.

Deza Malone tells Bud he carries his family inside him, a truth he does not yet fully understand.

After missing the train, Bud watches Bugs disappear west and firmly decides to walk all the way to Grand Rapids alone.

Mr. Lewis tells his daughter that Calloway had a grown daughter who ran away, not suspecting any connection to Bud.

Bud lies to Mr. Lewis outside the Log Cabin that his reunion with his father went smoothly so Lewis will leave.

Bud sees Herman E. Calloway for the first time and is shocked to discover the man he sought is very old.

Bud begins crying uncontrollably at the Sweet Pea dinner, and Miss Thomas pulls him into her lap to comfort him.

Mr. Calloway enters Bud's room at night and tries to frighten him away with lies about a hidden security system.

Mr. Jimmy arranges for Bud to ride back from the Mecosta gig alone in the Packard with Mr. Calloway.

Mr. Jimmy reveals that Angela Janet Caldwell was Mr. Calloway's long-missing daughter, and Bud realizes Calloway is his grandfather.

Bud finds Mr. Calloway weeping alone in his room and quietly reaches out to touch his arm and rub his back.

Bud's journey is driven by a series of emotional turning points, from his quiet realization that he no longer cries about bad news to his firm resolve to walk to Grand Rapids alone after missing the train. Small moments along the way — Deza Malone's wisdom about carrying family inside, Mr. Lewis's unknowing mention of Calloway's missing daughter — plant seeds that bloom into larger truths. At the Log Cabin, Bud faces the shock of Calloway's old age and the warmth of Miss Thomas's care, two forces that steady him against Calloway's coldness and hostility. The revelation of his mother's true identity arrives through a tobacco bag of labeled rocks, and the discovery that Calloway is his grandfather rather than his father brings Bud unexpected relief. The final turning point is Bud reaching out to comfort a grieving old man, signaling that a real family bond has quietly begun.