The story opens in Chihuahua, North Mexico, with a chance meeting with a group of itinerant Mexican street performers. Entranced by their stories and free-roaming lifestyle,  the author accompanies them on a two-year, hand-to-mouth journey across Mexico, learning to live off nothing more than a few performance skills, initiative, and the kindness of strangers. Compelling, humorous, sometimes violent, and full of wonderful descriptions of life on the road, this is also a discussion of the morality of hand-to-mouth travel and offers an insight into the day-to-day experiences of Mexico’s urban poor.