As the film opens on an Oklahoma farm during the depression, two simultaneous visitors literally hit the Wagoneer home a ruinous dust storm and a convertible crazily driven by Red, the missus' brother       A roguish country-western musician, he has just been invited to audition for the Grand Ole Opry, his chance of a lifetime to become a success       However, this is way back in Nashville, Red clearly drives terribly, and he's broke and sick with tuberculosis to boot       Whit, 14, seeing his own chance of a lifetime to avoid growing up to be a cotton picker all my life, begs Ma to let him go with Uncle Red as driver and protege       Thus begins a picaresque journey both hilarious and poignant