As the crow flies and the woodie ambles, it is a thousand miles on the road. One passenger is living and the other is dead and they are both talking. Tom's sudden death recalls to Jim a promise to take his friend home to Virginia someday. They're in a 1951 Ford Country Squire, pursued by a Chrysler Imperial that wants that diamond ring back. Their route is never the shortest but follows the growth of American popular music from Delta blues and gospel to border state country and rockabilly. Some of it is true and some is not.