When a 23 year old veterinary student is about to write his final exam for his degree he is told by the professor that his parents have been killed in an automobile accident.  He then is told by the lawyer that there is no money as the house was mortgaged and all their money was in a bank which has failed, a common occurrence in the depression of the 30s.  He suggests he might try going out west and in desperation he jumps on a freight train, which turns out to be a traveling circus train, and manages to get hired as a veterinarian even though unlicensed.  In this setting Sara Gruen has written a most interesting story, well defined variety of characters, wide range of emotions from love to anger to suspense that kept me unwilling to put it down.  All sandwiched between the memories of a 90 something man.