The next scene shows the four Alden children walking down the highway in the night. They are Henry (16), Jessie (14), Violet (11) and Benny (5). Jessie asks Henry, "How do you know we are going the right way?" Henry responds by saying, "I'm not entirely sure, but according to this address, he must live just a few miles up the road." Benny complains that he is tired and wants to sleep. Henry then picks him up and carries him as they go. Jessie asks again, "How will we recognize him?" "Well, we'll ask around and find out where he lives and finally we'll find him." Henry answers. They walk in silence for a few seconds. Violet stops and asks, "What if he's a mean old ogre and doesn't like us?" Henry stops and puts Benny down. "Now I want all of you to listen. No matter what comes out of this, we'll always be together all right? If it comes down to it, we'll live on our own if we have to." Henry answers. They all agree.

It is the end of the night and it is still dark. The children arrive in the city. Bennie complains that he is hungry. "We will stop and try to find something to eat." Henry suggests. "I smell bread being made," says Violet. They cross the street that seems to be part of the main intersection of the city and find that the smell is coming from a bakery. The front door is closed, but they find an open back door with a man (the baker) and a woman (his wife) discussing some of the local news. "Did you hear about what happened to Mrs. Reed?" the wife asks. The baker, uninterested, responds that he does not know. "Well," his wife continues, "her husband has decided to leave for the city. Apparently, he was offered a new job opportunity there. Poor man, I just hope that he doesn't end up living his life like another hobo You know, after seeing so many young men and women move and then come back after a few years, worse off than when they left, it has gotten very depressing." The baker, now listening to his wife, sits down on one of the chairs and says, "Well, all I can say is that we have been blessed." "Did you know that Mr. Adler died?" she asked again. "I just saw him yesterday!" the baker exclaimed. "Not him! His son and his daughter-in-law. Apparently, they were on a trip out west to find a job when an accident happened." His wife answered. "I havent heard from him in years! I havent even seen him since the incident happened. How did you find out?" the baker asked. "Oh, it was the talk of the town. It even made it into the newspaper. What must be decided now is what to do with his grandchildren." She replies. "He had three little ones right?" he asks. "I think they are four now, but no one knows where they are. They're not sure, but some believe that they might have died. That's all good for old Mr. Adler. I don't think he can handle any more troubles. If they find them, they will probably put them in boarding schools." She responds. They hear noises coming from outside, and the baker gets up and walks outside. When he returns, his wife asks him what it was. He responds that it was probably a stray cat.

The children are running away from the bakery and down the streets. "Where are we going?" Benny asks. "I won't let them split us up." Henry responds. Henry then stops and realizes he doesnt know where he is. He enters an alley, and then they decide to spend the night there. In the alley, there are three other people who are minding their own business. The children huddle together by the wall and fall asleep. The next day, the children head to the woods to look for some wild berries to eat, and as they are looking, it begins to rain. While running back towards town to avoid the rain, Jessie slips and falls. When the children go back to find where she is, they arrive and stop. They all stare straight ahead at a red boxcar. As the rain pours down, Violet helps Jessie up as she asks, "What is it." Henry, steps up to the boxcar and says, "It's an old boxcar, and I think it's open." He pushes back on the door and it slides open. They quickly walk inside to stay away from the rain. They look around and wait for the rain to stop.

As the children sit in the boxcar, with the sound of the rain hitting the roof of the boxcar, they divide the berries that they found on the floor. They begin to eat and discuss the boxcar. Henry mentions that the boxcar must be abandoned from the time that the railroad was being built in the town a few years back. He had read about it on a headline in the newspaper. Jessie and Violet start to walk around the boxcar and discover that it is empty. Benny curls up into one of the corners and falls asleep. The girls then ask Henry if he thinks they should spend the night in the boxcar. He agrees and they go to sleep, but not before shutting the door to the boxcar, but leaving just enough for some light to creep in.

Henry wakes up the next morning to find the door to the boxcar wide open and his three siblings missing. He gets worried and starts to scramble around the outside of the boxcar. He then spots them not far away walking towards him. He shows signs of relief and asks them where they were. They tell him that they were just finding some things for their new home. They tell him that they found a junkyard nearby where they found many interesting things. They talk about the boxcar and how its strange that no one has ever found it before, then they walk back to the boxcar. Hearing Benny mention that he is hungry, Jessie quickly glances at Henry and tells Benny that they found some more Berries that day. As Violet walks away with Benny back towards the boxcar, Jessie stays and tells Henry that they can't live off of Berries for the rest of their lives. Henry says that he will go into town to look for a job, but explains that it might be a few days before he gets one because of the high number of unemployed people.

The next day, Henry starts walking through the city and there are many people walking through what appears to be downtown. There are some cars driving around and many street beggars. Henry is looking though the city to look for some type of job. One of the men on the street tells him that he should quit looking because there is nothing in the city. Then, another man approaches, hands them some fliers, and walks away. The flier reads that there is a need for orange pickers in California and that there is almost guaranteed employment for those who make the move. Henry remembers the day his father came 'home' and told them that there are jobs in California.  Then we see the parents leaving on a train headed for California.  The children are there waving goodbye with the Johnsons.  Henry's mother tells them that when they have enough money they will send for them.  The train leaves.  Henry comes back to reality and exclaims that he cannot get to California. The man standing next to him, who also got a flier, explains that it doesn't matter since there are way too many people heading west and there is a very small chance of all of them getting a job. He tells him that the smartest thing he should do is to stick close to his family and his home. Henry, looking very sad and frustrated, thanks him for the tip and walks away throwing the flier on the ground.

Henry is clearly tired after walking around and sits down on the curb at the end of a street on a residential neighbourhood. He looks up when he hears the noise of a man shouting in pain. He runs up to a lawn and finds an older man there on the ground. He seems to have sprained his ankle while manoeuvring a lawnmower. He walks up to the man and helps him up. The man thanks him. Henry helps him over into his house and then offers to mow the lawn for him. The man thinks about it and then tells him he will be able to offer him some food if he mows it. Henry agrees and mows the lawn. At the end, Henry goes in the house and the man introduces himself as Dr. Moore. Henry, keeping his Alden family connection to himself, explains that he and his siblings are orphans and they desperately need a job. Dr. Moore gives him a loaf of bread, milk, and some cheese. He also tells Henry to come back the next day so that they can work on the garden he has. Henry gratefully accepts and leaves.

Henry approaches the boxcar to find his siblings moving things into it. While he was gone, Violet and Jessie had started to decorate the small boxcar with shelves, flowers, and boxes as tables. Henry tells everyone how his day at Dr. Moores went and shows them the food. Violet brings some blueberries and they eat on some plates that they found in the dump that morning. They eat and enjoy their meal.

What happens next is a montage of different things that happen in their life including scenes where all of the Aldens are working picking cherries in a large orchard with Dr. Moore and his mother. It also shows scenes where Benny is playing and eating some of the cherries. It also shows some scenes where they are eating at the Moores table.

In one dark night during a storm, the children wake up to hear a noise outside the boxcar. Jessie wakes Henry up without waking up the others. They listen through the side of the boxcar and hear scratching and moaning. Benny wakes up and is startled by the noise. Henry decides to go outside and investigate. Outside, in the rain and the dark, he searches for the origin of the noise and notices something moving past him. He is frightened and hears screams from inside the boxcar. He runs back and finds them giggling with a small dog running around. They decide to keep the dog, but outside and underneath the boxcar.

The next day, Benny goes to play with the dog and Violet stays with them to take care of them. Jessie and Henry go to Dr. Moores to work in his garden. There, they discuss an ad that Dr. Moore found in the newspaper about an essay contest. He tells Henry that he should enter the contest. Jessie asks what the prize is for those who win the contest. Dr. Moore says that it is 25 dollars. Henry decides to enter the contest, which is an essay contest about what home means to him.

On the day of the contest, all of the children are at a large fair that attracts many of the townspeople. Henry is talking to Dr. Moore about his essay and is not very confident about it. After talking to Dr. Moore he goes and talks to Jessie. He says that he hopes that they do not recognize them as the Alden children when he is up onstage. She remembers her parents (and we see their faces) and mentions that he looks a little like their father. She smiles and encourages him to keep up with it because it means $25, and it would mean a lot to them.

The essay contest is announced and many teenage boys and girls line up on the stage. The crowd quiets down except for some small children running around behind the crowd who is sitting down on benches. The first contestant is a girl and she gives a great speech about what home means to her and the crowd quietly applauds. Henry is obviously nervous and is looking at the crowd to where Dr. Moore and his siblings are. He then notices that his name has been called and he goes up to the front and gives a speech that stuns the audience. The main part of his speech was about his home being where his brother and sisters were. The crowd cheers and applauds. When it comes time for the winner to be announced, an older man walks up and announces that Henry won the contest. Henry thanks the man and walks back to Dr. Moore and the other children. Henry mentions that now things will change and they will live more comfortably. Dr. Moore smiles, but seems worried.

That night, Dr. Moore awakens to a loud banging on his door. He walks to the door and finds Henry in the rain looking very worried. He tells Dr. Moore that Violet is sick and Dr. Moore runs in the house to get his bag. When they arrive at the boxcar, Dr. Moore is stunned by the place that they are living in, but proceeds to the place Violet is laying down. Dr. Moore immediately notices that she has a fever and begins treating her. He leaves for a while and comes back with a car to take her to his house. They carry her to the car and they drive her to Dr. Moores house.

They learn that the man who presided at the contest was the owner of the car and he had come with them to help them with Violet. Dr. Moore takes care of Violet and says that she just needs to rest in bed now. The children all decide to spend the night there. The next morning, they wake up and have breakfast and Violet is up and well. When they're alone they tell Violet that they were really scared and that they might have to give up trying to live on their own and find their grandfather. Jessie agrees that it is going to be very hard to do things like this in the future when someone else gets sick. 

The old man who presided over the contest goes up to them and tells them that he feels bad that they don't have a place and offers them a place to stay. The children agree but ask him his name. He identifies himself as Mr. Alden and the children are shocked. Henry proceeds to identify his siblings. Mr. Aldens face begins to understand who they are. As he looks as Henry, we see images of his son and their similarities. He then hugs them as his grandchildren and tells them he thought that they were dead. He apologizes for not being in touch with them and his father. Benny tells the other children that their grandfather is actually nice. Violet asks whether they will be placed in boarding schools and he promises them that they won't. They'll live with him in the Alden mansion. Then Benny asks whether they can keep their old boxcar and their dog. Grandfather Alden smiles and tells them they could put it in their yard. The children all hug him.

The next scene is of the children playing in their backyard and the camera zooms out and shows the boxcar, and when it zooms out again, it shows the mansion in the background.  The credits roll.

The End.