While driving through rural Georgia with an ultimate destination of Jacksonville, Florida where they need to be by the end of the week, Tod and Linc encounter a dying man, Gerald Ward. Just before he passes away, he makes them vow to complete his current mission: locate the child he never met. It was the result of a one time encounter as he was passing through Savannah, Georgia in October 1939, the woman in question a barmaid named Lonnie whose last name he does know. That encounter took place outside the bar where there was woodsmoke out back. He only heard about the baby - gender unknown - after the fact, but he never made any effort to locate either Lonnie or the child until now. He has $38,000 he wants passed to his offspring. Despite Tod's reservations, the two do go on Gerald's mission for him. They go through both official and public channels, the latter in particular which may open them up to frauds and crackpots. But through it all, they hear some sad and desperate stories, one which may actually contain the Lonnie and the child of Gerald's life.
—Huggo