A real-life story of Emery Hinkhouse's first-hand struggles during the Great Depression. He takes us on a ride through one of the most arduous journeys one can imagine. To survive, he learned how to butcher hogs, trap animals for their fur, do every kind of farm work, hook up work horses to a plow at the age of twelve, and plow a field with a one furrow plow, and make moonshine for the local sheriffs—the best in the county. He eventually joined FDR's Civilian Conservation Corps two different times and sent his money home so his family would not starve. He hiked down the road with ten dollars he borrowed from a friend to find work in Minnesota at the age of sixteen. His is a true story of perseverance and survival, and as he has been oft quoted saying, "Hard work never killed anyone. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger."