 12-year old Jimmy Adams needs an operation to correct his eyesight but is afraid of hospitals and runs away from home. Despite a bicycle accident caused by his faulty vision, Jimmy manages to make his way to his father s home in Ridgeley, but he runs away again when he becomes aware that the Highway Patrol is looking for him. He tries to hitchhike on a nearby highway, where he meets a transient named Gorman. When Gorman learns that Jimmy is a runaway, he is fearful of being caught with the boy and sends him up a secondary road near a sharp drop-off. A motorist s tip leads Dan Mathews to Gorman, and he learns that he may have only moments to prevent Jimmy from stumbling over the drop-off and onto the rocks below.