Meet Ron McLarty's hero, Smithy Ide. He is a really nice guy who is also an overweight, friendless, womanless, hard-drinking, 43-year-old self-professed loser with a breast fetish and a dead-end job. When Smithy's entire family dies, he embarks on a transcontinental bicycle trip to recover his sister's body and rediscover what it means to live. The road redeems the innocent Smithy: he loses weight; rescues a child from a blizzard and many more peculiar adventures.