Based on the Depression-era bildungsroman memoir of writer A. E. Hotchner, the film follows the story of a boy struggling to survive on his own in a hotel in St. Louis after his mother is committed to a sanatorium with tuberculosis. His father, a German immigrant and traveling salesman working for the Hamilton Watch Company, is off on long trips from which the boy cannot be certain he will return.

Genres

Cast

Jesse Bradford

Aaron Kurlander

Jeroen Krabbé

Mr. Kurlander

Lisa Eichhorn

Mrs. Kurlander

Karen Allen

Miss Mathey

Spalding Gray

Mr. Mungo

Elizabeth McGovern

Lydia

Adrien Brody

Lester

Joe Chrest

Ben

John McConnell

Patrolman Burns

Amber Benson

Ella McShane

Kristin Griffith

Mrs. McShane

Chris Samples

Billy Thompson